July 2003 we spend our summer hollidays in Egypt. Although I did not expect it beforehand there are quit a lot of trains in Egypt and there is a metro in Cairo. These pages show some of the pictures I made. Because we were travellng in a group I was not always in the circumstances to make optimal pictures but I still think pictures of Egyptian trains are so scarce that it is worthwhile to include them in this site. In total there are 5,063 km of standard 1.435-m gauge of which 62 km is electrified. Railways were introduced into Egypt in the tumults of the international political competition between the two major world colonial powers at that time; France and Britain during the 19th Century to gain control over Egypt. The Cairo-Alexandria railway line was completed in 1856, reducing the journey from 42 hours to only seven hours (now ranging from 2 to 2.5 hours). In 1858, the Cairo-Suez line was completed. However it did not yield much profit and its role further declined after opening the Suez Canal in 1869. Therefore, it was lifted in 1878 and re-built during King Fouad’s reign in 1934. During the reign of Khedive Ismail railways witnessed great boom. Railway and telegraph services were well-organized and more branches were built in various parts of the country. At the end of Said’s era, Railway net covered 245 miles all in lower Egypt. Under Khediv Ismail the net grew to 1085 miles at (2112km) at an annual increase of 83 miles. In the year 1870, Egypt had more rail lines than in Belgium (458km), Denmark (1876km) and Portugal (787km). Egypt had a railway coverage per each million population of 422 against 239km in Italy, 335 km in Austria, 320km in Spain and 197 km in Portugal. Cairo’s main railway station (Mahat Misr) is one of the Prominent landmarks of the city. Covering 25,000m2, with a built-up of about 13,000m2, the station is designed to a high-level Arab Islamic style, of exemplar architectural symmetry.

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