Egypt: proposal for Nile rail corridor

[John Ashworth]

PROPOSAL FOR NILE RAIL CORRIDOR

Railways Africa on April 5, 2011 in Egypt

“Egypt’s railways are old,” writes Islam Soliman, 
assistant editor of OnIslam.net . “Their tracks are laid on relatively soft, muddy soil that does not allow for speedy movement with heavy loads.

A modern railway system is needed to serve present and future development 
requirements.”

Soliman continues: “Dr Farouk El-Baz, one of Egypt’s most prominent scientific minds, has proposed a project that might be the answer to many challenges that Egypt faces. Successive governments have rejected his project dubbed ‘The development corridor in the west of the Nile valley’ but with the winds of change blowing in Egypt, now might be the best time to implement it.



“The project’s proposed railway, parallel to a proposed superhighway, would satisfy that purpose. If deemed necessary, connecting tracks could be established along some of the east-west road branches in the future. Thuti’s Community for Egyptian Studies (TCES), an Egyptian cultural and scientific non-governmental organisation, backs El-Baz on his project. They believe it is based on outstanding scientific studies.”

According to one TCES member, “This project, if it is carried out, would solve 70% of Egypt’s problems, including problems of overpopulation in the Nile valley, traffic and unemployment by establishing these new communities in a new healthy environment”.


Dr Ismael Serag El-Din, president of the Alexandrina Bibliotheca and a former vice-president of the World Bank, says few similar projects have proved successful in other countries. “Many of those projects end up in a very different way than what was planned for them in the beginning,” he says, citing failures, like a World Bank-funded project in Brazil which was abandoned after 20 years of on-and-off work. The Eurotunnel, a 50km tunnel running from England to France across the English Channel, was another. Planners originally estimated a total cost of £2 billion pounds sterling, but the final cost was about $US 20 billion, a great deal more.