10 Things you need to know about Egypt new monorail

Egypt’s 1st monorail is underway, but where will it run? when? who is building it? and why a monorail?

Below are the most important information you need to know about this new project in 10 short points.

1- The construction is handled by the Canadian Bombardier Transportation along with Orascom Construction and the Arab Contractors. The deal was signed in Summer 2019. The work is financed by British and Italian finance agencies which the government will repay over a longer period. Bombardier is handeling system and trains while Orascom and Arab contractors are handling the civil engineering.

2- The monorail will have 2 lines, one will run 42kms from the 1st industrial district of 6 of October to Mohandsein and the 2nd will be 54kms from Cairo Stadium to the new administrative capital passing through Tagamoa. This means the new monorail will cover around 100kms which is an equal distance to what Egypt’s underground with its 3 lines cover.

3- The new monorail can carry around 48,000 commuters per hour.

4- The locomotives are made in the UK, however in later stages the manufacturing will happen in Egypt since all the resources are available.

5- The project cost is estimated at $3.2 billion allocated for the design and construction while 1.6 billion euros are set aside for the next 30 years of operation.

6- The monorail should be up and running by 2023.

7- The government has been investing a lot in developing transportation. Especially with the inauguration of the new administrative capital next year, a more connected greater Cairo was needed.

8- There is no concrete information about the price of the tickets, however it is expected that the tickets will be subsidized by the government to reduce traffic congestion, fuel consumption and pollution.

9- The monorail system moving over an elevated beam is not very well known around the world and the current technology it uses for mass transportation was only available in the last decade. The construction process doesn’t cause a lot of disruption as it only involves building the pillars that the monorail will run on.

10- The monorail costs about 30 to 40% less than building a metro line as it needs less engineering. At the same time, it has the same capacity, speed and safety.