RIYADH: The Egyptian transport minister has branded the country’s railway industry leadership as lazy and warned that the country will turn to foreign operators to intervene to run the network.
His comments follow separate two railway accidents within 24 hours.
Transport Minister Kamel El-Wazir, said he “did not find sufficient cooperation from the leaders and employees of the railways since he became minister,” Al Arabiya reported, citing a statement.
“If this laziness continues, I will seek the assistance of foreign companies cooperating with the Ministry of Transport in the field of railways to manage and operate the lines,” he said.
Egypt’s crumbling railway infrastructure requires billions of dollars of investment while a spate of deadly train crashes has highlighted the lack of investment in the sector.
Dozens of people were injured in a train collision in Alexandria on Tuesday which came less than a day after another incident in Cairo when a freight train collided with a minibus, killing two people and injuring at least six others.
The minister’s remarks also coincided with the signing a contract between Egyptian National Railways and the Hyundai Rotem-Daea consortium of South Korea.The $110 million project will modernize signaling and communication systems on the 118 kilometers-long Nag Hammadi-Luxor line.
