By Fatemha Farag The national railway network has a long history and a good reputation. It has been traditionally considered the safest and most comfortable form of transport in the country, despite the shadows cast by accidents such as the one that took place two weeks ago. Findings of an investigation by a technical committee comprising university professors of engineering and heads of various departments in the Railway Authority have yet to be disclosed. However, initial reports indicate that train No. 894 had been dysfunctional several days before its fatal trip on 19 October. Forty-seven people died and 104 were injured when the train jumped the tracks past the Kafr Al-Dawwar station platform, crashing into a square behind it. Five top-level Railway Authority officials have been suspended from work, while the technical committee examines the communication system connecting the train with the operations control room. According to the control official, driver Michel Ibrahim, who died in the crash, was apparently unable to hear the instructions given him. Reports that the driver had suffered a heart attack or was under the influence of drugs have proved unfounded. According to Ibrahim's service file, he was an exemplary driver who had never received a reprimand for his performance. His last medical check-up at the Railway Authority, conducted only a few months ago, gave him a clean bill of health. The Authority has pointed accusing fingers at fare-dodgers riding on the train's roof. According to the official version, a fare-dodger cut off the compressed air brake system connecting the locomotive with the carriages, causing the brakes to fail. Following the crash, Transport Minister Suleiman Metwalli said new legislation should be enacted which would impose stricter fines and even jail terms on the "riders on the roof". According to the current law, a fare-dodger faces a minimum fine of LE10 with the possibility of a suspended prison sentence of up to six months. According to Railway Authority figures up to 8,000 people dodge fares every month. The dodgers usually jump on the roof-tops of trains as they are moving out of the station. Even after the Kafr Al-Dawwar tragedy the phenomenon continues but a new law has been drafted that would increase the fine to LE5,000. The tragedy has raised questions about the efficiency of the national railway network, one of the oldest in the world and the oldest in Africa. A railway for Egypt was first mooted in 1830 after Britain built a railway line between Liverpool and Manchester. But initial attempts by Thomas Galloway, a British engineer employed by Mohamed Ali Pasha, were discarded. The first railway line connecting Cairo with Alexandria was built in 1851 during the reign of Khedive Abbas I. In the following years, a national network was established, connecting cities, towns, trade centres and even villages. Today, the network oversees 1,200 journeys daily, transporting three million people to various destinations across the nation. At the central railway station in Cairo's Ramsis Square, built in 1909, images of a grand past are very much in evidence. But walk into a third-class train carriage and the word "old" takes on a new meaning. It is filthy, has no glass in the windows, most of the seats are broken and the doors dilapidated. Metwalli conceded that these carriages need to be "upgraded", adding that 200 of them are presently undergoing repair. The cost of repairing one carriage is estimated at LE200,000. The locomotives are not much better. These are most often old and in bad repair. Yet drivers are the first to be blamed when anything goes wrong. "It is not only our superiors who find us guilty, but also public opinion, although they know nothing about the conditions under which we work," said a driver on condition of anonymity. For the 5,500 train drivers serving the nation, pay is low and working conditions are harsh. "Sometimes we cannot see the signal lights in the dark because they are not bright enough and many of the tracks are dangerous and need to be repaired," the driver complained. "We could use a mechanic with us to help out and sound-muffling equipment would help, too. Many of us suffer from hearing problems as a result of the loud noise made by the engines. Then there are the fare-dodgers. You need to be Superman to deal with all this." Officials may be proud of the fact that the number of train accidents has dropped from 490 in 1981 to 89 in 1995. However, according to published reports, 300 people died in those 89 incidents and over 1,000 were wounded. Still, the train may be your best bet if you want to get to your destination in one piece. In 1994, for example, there were 21,000 road accidents which left 4,920 dead and 20,000 wounded.
