Lieutenant-General / Kamel El-Wazir, Minister of Transport, accompanied by Major General/ Amr Hanafi, Governor of the Red Sea, inspected a number of sectors of the Qena / Safaga / Abu Tartour railway line, as part of the Ministry of Transport’s plan to rehabilitate and raise the efficiency of the line and extend it to Hurghada. The line had stopped Several years ago due to the low productivity of the mine and the lack of quantities of phosphate ore transported. The Minister of Transport confirmed during the tour that this line is 730 km long and its technical and economic feasibility studies have been completed, which confirmed the importance of its rehabilitation and re-operation to transport goods and passengers, indicating that this line will serve The Golden Triangle project, contributing to the transportation of phosphate ore, the development of the New Valley and supporting the tourism movement between Luxor and Hurghada. The project includes establishing a new line linking Safaga and Hurghada with a length of 50 km to operate passenger trains that serve tourist movement between Luxor and Hurghada and modifying the curves of the current line. He pointed out that the operational capacity for transporting goods is expected to start with 2.6 million tons annually, and it will be increased to 6 million tons annually.
The minister also indicated that it is planned to modify the route of the line to be parallel to the Qena / Safaga road in order to reduce the total length of the line and consequently reduce the journey time. A special plan was set for the financing model for the project and the mechanism for establishing the company that will manage the project, allowing the private sector to participate in the development, construction and operation of railways, especially in light of the amendment of the railway law, which allowed the Railways Authority to cooperate with the private sector in managing, operating and maintaining railways.
