Egypt launches the world's longest driverless monorail

Cairo's driverless monorail transport. Photo: alstom.com

Cairo is known not only for its historical monuments but also for its traffic jams. To decongest the multi-million-person metropolis, the authorities of Egypt began construction of a new administrative capital in the desert east of the city several years ago. Now, an important part of this strategy is the new driverless monorail transport system, which should provide a fast connection between the new and old urban areas.

As CNN writes, the first line of the network, "East Nile," opened to passengers in May. It stretches 56.5 kilometers from Cairo International Stadium in Nasr City to the New Administrative Capital, which does not yet have a name. Not all stations on the first line are yet operational: six out of 22 remain closed.

This is only part of the project: the second line, "West Nile," 43.8 kilometers long, is to connect the satellite city of "6th of October" with Giza. After construction is completed, the total length of the network will exceed 100 kilometers. This will allow the Egyptian system to surpass Chongqing in China and become the longest monorail line in the world.

It is expected that the new transport will carry about half a million people daily. For the first three days after opening, travel was free, after which payment was introduced according to tariff zones. The cost of a ticket for the entire East Nile route is 80 Egyptian pounds ($1.51), and for regular passengers, quarterly passes are available, costing from $34 for 180 trips within one zone to $136 for four zones.

What makes Cairo's new monorail unique?

As the publication notes, the project is a response to serious problems with the city's transport system. Cairo's existing three metro lines carry about 500 million passengers annually and have long been operating under heavy load. In 2019, the French company Alstom won a contract worth about three billion dollars for the construction and operation of the new monorail network. Egyptian companies Orascom Construction and Arab Contractors are also participating in the project.

272 carriages were manufactured for the system at Alstom's plant in Derby, UK. In total, the network will be served by 68 trains. They are capable of reaching speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour and carrying up to 45,000 passengers per hour in each direction. Movement takes place on concrete elevated tracks, raised above city streets.

A distinctive feature of the project is full automation. The monorail operates without drivers. Train movements are monitored by a radio-based signaling system that constantly determines the precise location of each train. Automation controls all main processes – from acceleration and braking to door opening and responding to emergency situations.

Alstom also emphasizes the environmental benefits of the new transport. The system creates less noise, does not emit harmful substances into the atmosphere, and can recover up to 99% of energy during braking, which reduces overall energy consumption. Additionally, the network's architecture allows its capacity to be increased without large-scale infrastructure reconstruction – it is enough to increase the number of trains and the frequency of movement.

Павялічыць

Cairo's driverless monorail transport. Photo: alstom.com

The consortium building the monorail has committed not only to constructing the system but also to operating and maintaining it for 30 years.

However, the grandiose construction is unfolding against a complex economic backdrop. Critics of the project point to Egypt's rising foreign debt, which has exceeded 160 billion dollars, and express doubts about whether such expenditures are justified.

There is also skepticism about how quickly the new transport artery will genuinely alleviate the lives of ordinary workers, given that the New Administrative Capital is not yet populated and is in the active stages of development. Authorities expect that in the future, approximately 6.5 million people will live there, and about two million jobs will be created.

Alstom calls the opening of the monorail an important step towards implementing Egypt's "Vision 2030" development strategy. The company notes that 98% of the project's employees were Egyptian citizens, and the experience gained could serve as an example for other African cities also facing congested roads and the need for environmentally friendly public transport. Alstom is already working on similar projects in Morocco, Côte d'Ivoire, Algeria, and South Africa.

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