The presence of the COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh gave the Egyptian government to sign an agreement with Deutsche Bahn the contract to operate Egypt's future high-speed rail network, for a renewable 15-year period. When completed over the next decade, this high-speed rail network should be the sixth largest in the worldits 2000 km of infrastructure to serve 90% of the Egyptian population.
DB is to commercially operate and maintain the country's first railway line. The line is 660 km long, in 2025 it will link Alexandria to Cairo and the country's new administrative capital being developed some thirty kilometres from Cairo. The investment, made by a joint venture between an Egyptian firm and Siemens, is worth €2.7 billion. This line was later extended to west of Alexandria towards Marsa Matruh on the Mediterranean. It will also reach the east of the country towards Ain Soukhna, a seaside resort on the shores of the Red Sea.
It will be subsidiary DB International Operations (DB IO) which will manage the largest rail project in Egypt's history. Niko Warbanoff, CEO of DB E.C.O. Group, explained during COP27 that the future network " will help millions of people in Egypt to benefit from modern mobility and ensure climate-friendly rail transport. The new rail system will boost Egypt's economic development" .
After the first line on the Alexandria-Cairo route, two other lines and 60 stations are planned. They will link Cairo to Abu Simbel -1,100 km, and Luxor to Hurghada on the Red Sea. This last line represents a distance of 250 km.
