The meeting was attended by Engineer Wagdy Radwan, Deputy Minister of Transport for Railways and Electric Traction, Major General Tarek Goueili, Chairman of the National Authority for Tunnels, and leaders from the Ministry of Transport and the Authority.
Al-Wazir highlighted the fruitful cooperation with Mitsubishi in implementing several important metro projects, noting the significant importance of the joint cooperation in supplying and upgrading a number of trains for the first and second lines of the metro in cooperation with Mitsubishi. This includes the rehabilitation of 35 trains for the second line and 23 trains for the first line. The Minister emphasized the great importance of rehabilitating these trains to support the fleet of moving units on the first and second lines, increasing train availability. This will contribute to consistent operating schedules and improving service provided to passengers, thereby increasing passenger numbers and increasing financial returns for the Metro Management and Operation Company.
The meeting also reviewed cooperation with the Japanese company Mitsubishi in the implementation of Metro Line 4. The company is implementing electromechanical and workshop works, in addition to implementing the rolling stock for the first phase of Metro Line 4, which will consist of 23 trains. It will also provide maintenance services for the trains for two years, according to a contract signed on November 18, 2021. The first train is scheduled to arrive in Egypt in May 2026, with the remaining trains arriving successively according to the planned schedule.
Al-Wazir stressed the importance of future cooperation with Mitsubishi International in localizing the manufacture of these rolling stock in Egypt, whether through establishing a factory in Egypt or through partnerships with NERC or SEMAF.
He emphasized the importance of the Metro Line 4 project, the first phase of which extends 19 km and includes 17 stations (16 underground and 1 surface). It begins west of the Ring Road on the borders of 6th of October City, passing by the Grand Egyptian Museum station, then El-Remaya Square, then Al-Haram Street, and ends at Giza Station, where it will interchange passenger transport services with Metro Line 2. It will then extend to interchange passenger transport services with Metro Line 1 at El-Malek El-Saleh Station, and the first phase of the line will end at Al-Fustat Station. Construction work for the first phase of the metro stations and tunneling for the two metro tunnels (one in each direction) is currently underway using four tunneling machines (two machines in each direction).
Al-Wazir added that studies are currently underway to implement the second phase, which extends 31.8 km and includes 21 stations (6 overhead and 15 underpasses) in an underground path. It will then intersect with Metro Line 6 (currently under study) at Sayeda Aisha Station. The project will then extend along Salah Salem Street, then Nasr Road to Al-Azhar University, passing through Nasr City, where it will exchange service with the East Nile Monorail at the Airport Station. The project will then continue southeast until it intersects with the Ring Road at the Security Complex and the Police Academy. It will then extend east along Sadat Axis after the Police Academy in an elevated path to the First Settlement in New Cairo, passing through the Youth Housing, Yasmine, and Banafseg neighborhoods.
It will then head north, ending at the site of the major overhaul workshop for Line 4, north of the intersection of the Ring Road with the Cairo-Suez Road, at the end of the second phase. A study is also being conducted to implement the third phase of the line, extending over a distance of 16.3 km from Hadayek El-Ashgar station to Al-Hosary Square, to serve the population density along its path and to achieve a connection with the West Nile Monorail at Al-Hosary station. A study is also being conducted to implement the fourth phase of the line, extending over a distance of 16.3 km from the final station in the phase.
The second line, extending from the Capital Airport Station to the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, will connect with the LRT (Adly Mansour - 10th of Ramadan - New Administrative Capital) with a length of 38.7 km. He stressed the importance of metro projects in connecting different regions and facilitating the movement of citizens, which serves development goals. He pointed out that the line is expected to transport about 1.5 million passengers daily, after its completion.