Egypt signs MoU for 1st luxury rail cruise project

The Egyptian National Railways (ENR) signed on Sunday a MoU with Italy’s Arsenale Group for the operation of Egypt’s first luxury train and rail cruise.

The agreement was signed on the second day of Egypt-EU Investment Conference and presided by Transport Minister Kamel Al-Wazir.

The celestial-sounding Guardian of the Nile will be Arsenale’s fourth international project for luxury rail cruises, following announcements in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan.

Consisting of 15 carriages with 40 cabins that come in three different tiers of opulence — deluxe, suite, and honor suite — the hotel on wheels will offer 80 passengers the extravagant adventure of a lifetime, according to a previous statement by Arsenale.

Set to be completely refurbished in specialised Italian factories based in Puglia and Sicily in Southern Italy, the hotel on wheels will take passengers on a one-way trip from Cairo to Aswan, with reserved stopovers including Luxor and Abu Simbel.

Mohamed Amer Abdel Aziz, chairman of the ENR, signed the papers with Paolo Barletta, chairman of Arsenale Group.