Alstom to design and build first driverless metro in Africa
The 35km long line will include 27 stations across the Cairo neighbourhoods of Shubra El-Kheima and New Maadi
French mobility giant Alstom has signed a framework agreement with Egypt’s National Authority of Tunnels (NAT) to design, build, and maintain Line 6 of the Cairo Metro.
In a statement issued at the COP27 Summit, Alstom said the 35km-long line will be the first driverless metro in Africa and will accommodate around half a million passengers. The line will run north to south through the Greater Cairo neighbourhoods of Shubra El-Kheima and New Maadi, ending at the beginning of Ain El-Sokhna Road, Al-Khosos. It will include 27 stations, with 12 of them underground.
The creation of Cairo Metro Line 6 will reduce the congestion on Cairo Metro Line 1 and provide more options to residents moving across Cairo, Alstom noted.
In January 2021, it was announced that the Cairo Metro Line III had reached the 49% completion mark and, October 2022, Alstom opened a new regional office in Riyadh.
“In 2019, the city’s CO2 emissions due to transport was around 22m tonnes of CO2 representing 40% of Egypt’s total transport emissions. The agreement demonstrates Egypt’s commitment to ensuring Cairo is an inclusive, safe, and resilient city,” said Andrew DeLeone, President of Alstom in Africa, Middle East, and Central Asia.
Alstom will provide the rolling stock and 294 metropolis cars. It will also supply signalling systems, telecom systems, traction, power supply, high voltage substation, depot equipment, depot design, trackwork, third rail and automatic fare collection, it added.
In addition, the French firm will be responsible for the maintenance work on Cairo Line 6, which will be carried out at the depot in Cairo and managed locally.
In early November 2022, Bahrain said it would launch a tender for the construction of its metro project by Q1 2023.
