Egypt: seven killed in Giza train collision as calls grow for railway overhaul
A Fayoum-bound train struck the rear of a stationary Aswan service, injuring 125 people. President el-Sisi has ordered an urgent investigation.
Seven people were killed and at least 125 injured on Sunday when two passenger trains collided in Giza governorate, some 52 kilometres south of Cairo.
According to the Ministry of Transport, a train travelling from Giza to Fayoum struck the rear of a stationary Cairo-to-Aswan service between the Kafr Ammar and Al-Raqqa stations, in the Al-Ayyat area. The Ministry of Health said more than 70 of the injured had since been discharged from hospital. The Egyptian National Railways Authority deployed emergency teams and cranes to clear the wreckage, and repair work on the damaged track began on Monday.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi offered his condolences and directed state agencies to provide medical care, to investigate the cause of the accident without delay and to hold any negligent parties to account.
Renewed scrutiny of the network
The collision has renewed concern over the state of Egypt's railways, which have long suffered from ageing equipment and weak management. Emad El-Din Hussein, editor-in-chief of Al-Shorouk newspaper and a member of the Senate, acknowledged that the government had invested heavily in modernisation and that there had been no accident of comparable scale in about four years. "While efforts are indeed being made, they are still not enough," he said.
Wahid Al-Jamal, who witnessed the aftermath, said the system "requires a complete overhaul", including upgraded signalling and communications between controllers and drivers, and tunnels or overpasses in villages along the line.
Egypt's deadliest rail disaster occurred in 2002, when a fire on a train in the same Al-Ayyat district killed more than 300 people.