Egyptian expert: China is ideal partner to help Egypt upgrade railways
Release time:
2017-08-25 00:00
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Egypt, Cairo, a boy passes by a railway track Source: Vision China
xinhua news agency, cairo, August 13, 2017Mohamed Shehata, chairman of the Egyptian Transport Association, said on the 13th that China has the world's leading railway industry and has experience in helping African countries build railways. China can help Egypt upgrade its railway infrastructure.
Shehata told Xinhua News Agency reporters on the same day that most of Egypt's existing railways and trains are in disrepair, and diesel locomotives are still in large-scale service and urgently need to be replaced with electric locomotives; the dispatching and management standards of Egyptian railways are also relatively backward, and train drivers and railway workers are generally lack of training.
On the afternoon of the 11th local time, two trains collided in Alexandria province in northern Egypt, killing 49 people and injuring more than 130 others. A preliminary investigation by the Egyptian transport department showed that the cause of the accident was operational error. After the accident, Egyptian President Sisi ordered the establishment of an accident investigation committee to investigate the cause of the accident as soon as possible, and instructed the transportation department to comprehensively upgrade the railway infrastructure in the near future to avoid such accidents from happening again.
"The unfortunate accident on the 11th reminded the Egyptian government that the maintenance of railway infrastructure is related to the safety of the lives of the Egyptian people," Shehata said. The Egyptian government had previously spent billions of dollars to upgrade the railway system, but the results were not good. The existing system is "minor repairs", and Egypt's entire railway network and all locomotives need to be completely renovated.
Shehata said that China is an ideal partner to help Egypt achieve a "modernization leap" in the field of railway infrastructure, "compared with European countries, China provides products at a relatively low price at the same level of technology. We can also apply for loans from Chinese banks."
Shehata also said that Egypt straddles Asia and Africa and has a unique geographical location. The strengthening of cooperation between China and Egypt in the field of railway infrastructure will also create good conditions for the construction of China-Africa "Belt and Road Initiative". "China is a partner of African countries, and there is huge room for cooperation in railway infrastructure cooperation between China and Egypt".
(Reporter: Zheng Kailun)
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