Egypt: The capital’s 56.5 km route with 22 stations was inaugurated with the participation of the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. The new monorail boasts a reported daily capacity of up to 500,000 passengers.
Alstom has supplied a fleet of 40 four-car Innovia 300 rubber-tyred trains along with the Cityflo 650 train control system of the highest GoA4, switches, depot equipment, platform doors, communication and energy systems. The rolling stock is produced at the manufacturer’s plant in Derby, UK.
The trains with a maximum speed of 80 km/h operate at three-minute headways, but the intervals could be reduced to 90 seconds as demand increases. The car bodies are made of extruded aluminium panels, which are recyclable and resistant to corrosion. The monorail trains can pass curves with a radius of 46 m and gradients of up to 6‰.
The contract for the turnkey construction of Egypt’s two monorail lines and the delivery of 70 trains was signed in 2019 with a consortium headed by Bombardier Transportation (acquired by Alstom in 2021). The €4.1 bln deal also includes 30 years of maintenance service. Both lines were planned to be launched in 2023, but there were land issues, technical challenges, and disruptions in supply chains.
