Egypt has signed a $4.45 billion deal for a high-speed electric rail line to link its Red Sea and Mediterranean coasts that contractor Siemens dubbed a “Suez Canal on rails."The contract between Egypt’s National Authority for Tunnels (NAT) and a consortium including Siemens Mobility, Orascom Construction and Arab Contractors will cover design, installation and maintenance of the rail link over 15 years, a cabinet statement said on Sept. 1.
The 660 km link will include a main line designed to carry more than 30 million passengers annually, as well as a freight line, and will run between the Red Sea port of Ain Sokhna and the Mediterranean ports of Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh. Ain Sokhna is a major port and industrial complex just south of the Suez Canal, the quickest sea link between Europe and Asia.
