THE Egyptian government has confirmed a 15-year operating contract for the country’s high-speed network with a consortium of DB International Operations (DB IO) and Egyptian firm Elsewedy Electric.
The agreement was signed by the National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) and the consortium at a ceremony in Cairo on November 13. DB IO is part of DB ECO group, itself the international consultancy subsidiary of German Rail (DB). The “single digit billion euro” contract was awarded in 2022.
Minister of Industry and Transport, Kamel Al-Wazir, attended the signing by NAT chairman, Dr Tarek Gewaily, DB IO CEO, Niko Warbanoff, and Elsewedy Electric chairman, Ahmed El-Sewedy.
According to local media outlet Ahram Online, the contract stipulates that Egyptian staff must make up at least 95% of the operating company’s workforce to ensure full transfer of expertise. The consortium will run extensive training programmes for Egyptian engineers and technicians to prepare them to operate the network independently in the future, as well as annual training for Egyptian drivers on Germany’s high-speed network.
Al-Wazir said the agreement is part of the Ministry of Transport’s plan to partner with global railway leaders and benefit from their technical expertise. He said that a single operator managing all high-speed lines will reduce operational overlap and interoperability issues. The contract also introduces a new revenue-sharing model.
The first phase of Egypt’s planned 2000km high-speed network, a 660km line from Ain Sokhna port on the Red Sea, through Cairo and Alexandria, to Marsa Matrouh, is largely complete, with the first trains, based on the Siemens Velaro platform, starting testing on the line earlier this month.
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