Egypt’s Salafist Front To Protest On 28 November To ‘Impose Islamic Identity’

Railway movement has resumed in Upper Egypt following a three-hour halt due to a carriage derailment in Minya, according to Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website.

The stoppage led to a three-hour delay for 13 scheduled trains.

Earlier in the day, a carriage on a train headed from Cairo to Sohag derailed while passing through Minya, said Rashad Abdel-Aaty, vice president of Egypt’s Railway Authority, as reported by Al-Ahram.

No injuries were reported.

The railway official also said that authorities visited the site to lift the carriage and investigate the causes of the incident.

Egypt has been struggling with a rundown railway system for years, even though it transports around 500 million passengers annually (1.4 million per day), according to government figures.

There have been several deadly train accidents in the country over the past two decades, including a train and school bus crash in November 2012 that killed at least 50 people.

The government has pledged to renovate the railway system. However, no clear systematic plan has been enforced.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has repeatedly said that the government lacks the huge funding it urgently needs to develop several sectors nationwide.

Source : Ahram online