Lieutenant General Engineer Kamel Al-Wazir, Minister of Transport, witnessed the signing of a contract for the development of signaling and communication systems and railway renewals in the Cairo-Bani Suef sector, with a length of 125 km, and a maintenance contract for a period of 5 years, including spare parts, between the National Authority of Egyptian Railways and the alliance of the two companies (Thalis Spain / Orascom). It was signed by Eng. Mohamed Amer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Authority for Egyptian Railways, Fernando Ortega, General Manager of Thales Spain, and Fadi Magdy, Head of the Transport Sector at Orascom.
Replacing the current electric relay system with an electronic signaling system
The minister explained the importance of this signature, which aims to replace the current electrical relay system with a modern electronic signal system (SIL 4) to achieve the highest levels of safety and security.
He pointed out that it embodies cooperation between the state represented by the Ministry of Transport, the international private sector represented by Talis Spain, and the local private sector represented by Orascom, within the framework of implementing the directives of the political leadership to maximize the participation of the international and local private sector in the projects of the Ministry of Transport.
He pointed out that the project consists of 17 signaling towers and 65 slides, and that the modernization of the railway signaling systems in this line will contribute to increasing the factors of control and control in the safety and security of the trains’ path, reducing the intersection period between trains and increasing the capacity of the network by increasing the number of trips during the day. Al-Wahed, adding that the modernization of signaling and communication systems includes monitoring the movement of trains, moment by moment, and providing sliders with bells, lights and automatic gates to reduce accidents and achieve safety for vehicles, and a system that allows the driver to contact the operation controller from any semaphore in cases of emergency or sudden breakdowns. The contract took into account the implementation of a localization plan for each component that can be manufactured in Egypt, such as cables, rails and railway switches, to reduce dependence on foreign currency and transfer of expertise.
It is worth noting that within the framework of the comprehensive plan implemented by the Ministry of Transport to develop signaling systems in railway lines, particularly the main railway line in the railway network, which is the (Alexandria / Cairo / Aswan) line, the work of developing signaling systems and railway renewals on the Cairo / Alexandria line has been completed. With a total length of 208 km, the works of the project to develop signaling systems and railway renovations on the Beni Suef / Assiut line, with a length of 250 km, have been completed. The work of developing signaling systems on the Assiut / Sohag / Nagaa Hammadi line, with a length of 180 km, has been completed by more than 90%. Work is underway on the project of developing signaling and communication systems. On the Naga Hammadi / Luxor line with a length of 118 km. The project of developing signaling and communication systems and railway renovations on the Luxor / High Dam line to complete the plan for developing signaling and communication systems on the main lines of the railway network was approved and ratified by His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.