Egypt's railway authority signs deal with military to upgrade 92 crossings

Egypt's national railways signed an agreement with the ministry of military production to upgrade 92 crossing at a cost of LE81.9 million, the authority said in a statement on Tuesday.

This comes as part of a plan to upgrade 295 crossings including control and operation systems at a total cost of LE531 million.

Egypt has seen a rise in deadly train accidents over the past decade.

Most accidents were caused by an outdated railway system in dire need of renovation.

Train accidents in the fiscal year 2013/14 climbed to 781 from 447 the previous year, according to a report issued by state-run statistics agency CAPMAS earlier this week.

Last March, Egypt witnessed one of its frequent deadly train accidents as seven people were killed when a train and a school bus collided in northeast Egypt at an adhoc railway crossing.