Following Saturday's devastating train incident in Assiut, which left at least 50 people dead, mainly young schoolchildren, the state of Egyptian trains are again coming under review. Below is a short timeline of major train crashes in the country (recent listed first): November 17, 2012: At least 50 people, mainly schoolchildren are killed when a train near Assiut slams into a school bus. November 10, 2012: Three people killed in incident near Fayoum, an hour south of Cairo. July 2012: A train crash took place in Egypt's Badrasheen area of Giza when the first train arriving from Upper Egypt's city of Assuit went off the tracks and hit a parked train at the Badrasheen railway station on its way to Cairo. An unkown number killed October 25, 2009: Collision at Al-Ayyat in Giza, 50 kilometers (31 mi) south of Cairo. According to security officials, an initial report stated that 30 people were suspected killed and 50 injured. September 4, 2006: A passenger train collides with a freight train north of Cairo, killing five and injuring 30. August 21, 2006 Qalyoub rail crash: Two trains collide in the town of Qalyoub, 20 kilometers (12 mi) north of Cairo, killing 57 people and injuring 128. February 20, 2002 Al Ayatt train disaster: A train packed to double capacity catches fire, at least 373 are killed, although most observers say this figure is most likely much higher due to over packing into the carriages. 1998: Kafr Al-Dawar accident: “dozens” killed. Numbers unknown. 1992: head-on collision at Al-Badrashin: 43 killed. While this list is not inclusive of all accidents, these are the major incidents in the past 20 years. According to a 2010 report published by the Safe Transportation Unit of the Egyptian National Railways, only “18 percent” of trains were safe for travel.
