Egypt, General Electric ink $575 mln deal for 100 multi-use locomotives

Egypt signed Saturday 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 government said in a statement.

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, said Egyptian Transport Minister Hisham Arafat in the government statement.

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

The agreement comes nearly a week after Arafat and Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr met with the CEO of GE Egypt Ayman Khattab to discuss GE proposals to contribute to developing the Egyptian railway network through procuring 100-200 train carriages, 35 percent of which to be manufactured in Egypt.

Source: Ahram Online