Egypt - Rail accident claims five lives

September 4, 2006

The collision of a freight train with a passenger train just north of Cairo in the town of Shebin al-Qanater. The accident claimed 5 lives and injured another 30. It is reported that one of the dead was the engineer of the freight train.

In August the director of rail service in Egypt was fired after a similar accident killed 58 people in the town of Qalyoub. A public inquiry into that accident is underway amid growing criticism of the government for lax rail safety and transport regulation.

Mohammed Mansour, Egypt's new director of transport has agreed that the transportation system is in need of extensive overhauls. The government has approved $860 million to develop the rail infrastructure, plus another $600 million in loans to private rail operators.