The World Bank has approved a $330 million loan for Egypt's railways project, according to a statement, which will be used to finance the modernization of signaling along the Beni Suef-Assiutline, between Alexandria-Assiut. The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved the loan as additional financing for the Egypt National Railways Restructuring Project (ENRRP), which aims to “assist the government in improving the reliability, efficiency and safety of the railways' services through signaling and track renewal investments.” ENRRP will also set out to modernize the Egypt National Railways (ENR) management and operating practices to enhance “responsiveness to economic and social needs and to strengthen the financial viability of ENR.” “Low-income passengers in particular will benefit from safer, more reliable and faster services; whereas businesses, with respect to freight transport, will have access to a much larger range of more reliable rail services,” the World Bank statement said. A. David Craig, country director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti, said in the statement that “the ongoing reforms in the railways sector…aim at creating safer, more dynamic, responsive and competitive rail services.” The financing is also in line with the World Bank's “Country Assistance Strategy, which identifies enhancing the provision of public services as a key objective to achieve sustainable growth,” he added. The original project is financing needed investments in signaling systems from Arab El-Raml to Alexandria (on the Cairo-Alexandria line), in addition to financing priority track-renewal works for 200 km of track along the Cairo-Aswan line (149 km on four sections of track) and the Benha-Port Said line (51 km on two sections of track).
