Egypt test runs its new monorail

Trains created by manufacturing giant Alstom have been test run in Cairo ahead of the launch of a new Egyptian monorail system.

The new trains are part of a £2.3 billion contract for Alstom to construct and run a 61-mile-long monorail network in the Egyptian capital.

In total, 272 Cairo Monorail cars were assembled and tested at the firm's Litchurch Lane Works site in Derby, with the final car coming off the production lines in January this year.

The British ambassador for Egypt, Gareth Bayley OBE, test ran one of the trains in the country's New Capital City area and said: "I was impressed by the cutting-edge train carriages that the brilliant Alstom team have produced."

In August 2019, an Alstom-led consortium involving Orascom Construction and Arab Contractors signed the contract to design, construct, operate and maintain the new Cairo Monorail, which is the "longest driverless train system in the world".