World Bank Supports Egyptian National Railways Restructuring Project
WASHINGTON, 17 March 2009: The World Banks Board of Executive Directors has approved a loan in the amount of 270 million US dollar to support the Egypt National Railways Restructuring Project (ENRRP).
The objective of ENRRP is to support the strategy of the Government of Egypt for improving the reliability, efficiency and safety of the railways services through signaling and track renewal investments by Egyptian National Railways (ENR).
Another purpuse is the modernization of its management and operating practices in order to enhance the railways’ sector responsiveness to economic and social needs.
In the past few years, the total traffic of the railways; passengers and freight, exceeded 65 billion traffic units, which exceeds the combined traffic of railways in Algeria, Iran, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey.
Passengers and businesses are two principal target beneficiaries of ENRRP. Low-income passengers in particular, will benefit from safer, more reliable and faster services; whereas businesses, with respect to freight transport, will have access to a much larger range of more reliable rail services.
The first component of the Project will finance the modernization of signaling along the Arab el-Raml to Alexandria line and a computerized Central Traffic Control system (CTC).
– When this section is completed, it will be the most modern part of the Egyptian railway network in terms of signaling and safety standards, said Michel Bellier, the World Bank Task Team Leader.
The second component of the Project will finance priority track-renewal works for 200 km of track along the Cairo-Aswan line and the Benha-Port Said line. – The renewal of the identified sections will significantly decrease the risk of derailments and track maintenance costs while increasing train speed, he noted.
– The World Banks support to the transport sector in Egypt is in line with the Banks Country Assistance Strategy which identifies enhancing the provision of public services as a key objective to achieve sustainable growth, said Emmanuel Mbi, Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti, adding:
– Since the railways sector plays a significant role in the Egyptian economy, we are pleased to support the ongoing reforms that aim at creating safer, more dynamic, responsive, and competitive rail services.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
