Travelers and critical cargo in Egypt could soon be moving faster thanks to high-speed trains recently unveiled by Siemens Mobility.
The company’s new version of its Velaro train, capable of speeds of 250 kilometers per hour (155 miles per hour), made its public debut in Egypt at the TransMEA 2025 show in New Cairo on November 9.
Forty-one of the 489-capacity trains will be used on the nation’s planned 2,000-kilometer (1,200-mile), high-speed network, which will connect Egypt’s major cities across three lines, be accessible to nearly 90% of the population, and slash travel times by up to 50%, according to Siemens. The project was first announced in 2018 and is being developed in partnership with Arab Contractors and Orascom Construction.
The fleet of trains, which was designed and is being constructed in Germany, has been optimized to withstand Egypt’s harsh desert climate, and features advanced filtrations systems and cooling to counter sand, heat and dust.
Also on November 9, Siemens’ Desiro High-Capacity regional train, with a top speed of 160 kmph (99 mph), completed its first journey near the 6th of October Depot, a new dry port west of Cairo.
The dry port, with storage capacity for 260,000 containers, features five rail lines and is an integral feature of the Green Line, an in-construction 660-kilometer (410 mile) network dubbed the “Suez Canal on Rails,” connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It will connect Ain Sokhna, south of Suez, with Cairo, Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh along Egypt’s north coast. According to Siemens, the new high-speed rail network will increase Egypt’s freight capacity by 46%.
In a press release, Egypt’s deputy prime minister for industrial development and minister of transport and industry, Lieutenant General Engineer Kamel El-Wazir, described the Desiro’s first journey as a “defining moment in Egypt’s transport modernization strategy.”
“This high-speed train project will help redefine passenger experience, reduce travel times, and boost connectivity between cities,” he added.
Egypt’s high-speed rail network won’t be the continent’s first. In 2018, Morocco opened Africa’s first high-speed line, which connects Tangier and Casablanca at speeds up to 320 kmph (200 mph).
Other high-speed rail projects could shake up Africa’s transport infrastructure.
Nigeria is pursuing a $60-billion, 4,000-kilometer (2,485-mile) high-speed network connecting Lagos and Port Harcourt, with construction led by De-Sadel Nigeria Limited and financing led by China Liancai Petroleum Investment Holdings Limited. The companies presented proof of funds in August, per a government statement. In the same release, Samuel Uko, CEO of De-Sadel, said the first 1,700-kilometer (1,056-mile) section could be completed in as little as three years.
The African Union also has long-term high-speed rail ambitions.
The African Integrated High Speed Railway Network, a flagship project under the African Union’s Agenda 2063, completed its first implementation phase in 2023. The 10-year phase involved master planning and studies around how to best connect major cities through rail corridors, as well as identifying 17 pilot projects.
If successfully implemented, the African Union believes high-speed rail could reduce transport costs by 40% and increase intra-African trade from around 15% to over 50% in the decades ahead.
