Egypt signs €290 mln deal with EBRD to purchase 100 locomotives

Egypt and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed Monday a €290 million ($324 million) financing agreement to finance the purchase of 100 new locomotives.

Egyptian Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr has signed the agreement with Janet Heckman, EBRD’s managing director for the southern and eastern Mediterranean, in Cairo in the Egyptian ministry’s headquarters.

The new agreement is part of the EBRD’s strategy to support the modernisation of the Egyptian railway system, said Egyptian Transport Minister Hisham Arafat on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.

Egypt signed earlier this week a $575 million agreement with General Electric Co for GE to provide 100 new multi-use locomotives, 15 years of technical support and spare parts, and maintenance, and upgrades of 81 trains.

The first shipment of 25 locomotives would arrive in 2018, as part of a plan to have 25 million tonnes of goods transported via railway by 2022.

The GE agreement also includes the US conglomerate carrying out maintenance and upgrades on 81 trains the Egyptian National Railways bought in 2008, and training Egyptian engineers.