Railway services to Upper Egypt resume after temporary halt

[DJKeefy]

Egypt's partially operating national train service between the capital Cairo and Upper Egypt governorates resumed on Wednesday after maintenance had caused its stoppage for a week, officials said.

Egyptian trains to and from Cairo were brought to a grinding halt in August due to the violent political turmoil that followed the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July, and services continue to be gradually restored since.

The stoppage has greatly disrupted nationwide travel and inflicted substantial financial losses on the Railway Authority.

Fourteen out of a total of 68 trains between Cairo and Upper Egypt are now operating , Rashad Abdel-Aty, deputy head of Egypt's railway authority for operations, told Ahram Online.

Cairo's exclusively air-conditioned trains generate the bulk of the authority's revenues in light of the low fares of standard services across the country.

Almost 60 percent of the railway capacity between Cairo and nationwide destinations – 94 out of 168 trains – is now in operation, Abdel-Aty added.

Egypt's trains transport around 500 million passengers annually (1.4 million per day), according to the railway authority's website.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/92940.aspx

[Brian Yare]

68 trains between Cairo and Upper Egypt? I assume that this includes some trains fairly local to Cairo - maybe as far as Beni Suef?

I've never found an on-line non-Arabic timetable for local trains, but 14 trains would probably be sufficient for the long-distance trains. A better breakdown of the figures would be of interest, but probably will not be forthcoming.