The Egyptian Transport Ministry announced that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has approved the extension of the second line of the high-speed electric train currently being implemented between Giza and Aswan to Abu Simbel instead of Aswan.
In a Saturday statement the ministry explained that the move will support tourism flow, facilitate the movement of citizens, and help transfer crops and agricultural products from the farms of Toshka and Sharq al-Owainat to residential areas and seaports such as Safaga and Alexandria.
Transport Minister Kamel al-Wazir inspected the distance from Abu Simbel to Luxor of the route at a length of about 530 km, which includes 12 stations, five for the high-speed train and seven stations for the regional train.
The route of the second line of the October/ Aswan/ Abu Simbel high-speed train network is at 1,100 km long.
During the tour, the Transport Minister ordered to intensify work around the clock to complete the project according to schedule.
Wazir noted that the train route being near the Western Road was taken into account, alongside having the location of the stations close to roads and residential places in Upper Egypt.
All paths to the stations will be free and serve all directions of traffic to help travelers reach the stations from all directions and from all nearby cities and villages.
Egypt is implementing the high-speed electric train network consisting of three main lines with a total length of about 2,000 km, of which about 1,400 km serve Upper Egypt, in parallel with the ongoing development of the existing railway network with a length of 10,000 km.
