Dumbstruck by the nation-wide strike of train drivers on Sunday, commuters have been reported as going through a hard time trying to find alternative means of transport to reach their destinations. The paralysis hitting the railway services since late Saturday night to date has had a detrimental effect not only in terms of economic loss but on road traffic congestion in different parts of the country, given the fact that Egypt has a railway network of about 6,700 kilometres. Since the outbreak of the revolution, strikes have become a recurring feature with different society sectors pressing for better working conditions, but financial claims have always been part and parcel of such demands. Train drivers maintained their strike for the second day in a row, rejecting a l0 per cent increase in the routine allowance they get which was to be effected starting from next month. While the Transport Minister described average income of drivers as ‘reasonable' ranging between LEl,300 and LE5,000, strikers say they are entitled to better pay and to a percentage of profits following the suit of underground metro workers. They say that they work in extremely difficult conditions having to drive dilapidated trains in need of maintenance or replacement. Minister Hatem Abdel-Latif has expressed readiness to resume talks with drivers on strike provided that the railway traffic returns to its normal rate first. He told the local press that dialogue is open for all drivers and conductors. The railway service in this country caters for large numbers of citizens especially given that most of the network connects densely populated areas of the Nile Delta with Cairo and Alexandria. Lines between Cairo and Upper Egypt are also heavily in demand, particularly second- and third-class carriages. Most railway stations experienced chaos on Sunday midst complaints and arguments on the part of regular train users. Sanaa Mohamed who is accustomed to making a trip to Cairo every two weeks so that her son would get his chemotherapy treatment in the National Tumour Institute, Qasr el-Aini Hospital was stuck at Ramses Station. She came three days ago from her hometown in Upper Egypt and was supposed to return home with her son on Sunday. Sanaa is compelled to stay at the railway station until the service is back as she told Al-Ahram Arabic daily “ I know of no other means of transport." The strike had caused thousands of employees to skip work, while others preferred to take inter governorate microbuses or taxis, having to pay a fare, which they said cannot afford if the strike continues for a few more days. As a vital service that carries an estimated 2.3 million passengers a day, temporary measures have had to be taken on the part of the railway authority. These include reimbursing the value of tickets for those that had already booked seats and co-ordinating with security departments in some governorates to provide alternative transport. According to figures released by Egyptian National Railways there is a gap between wages of the railway workers estimated at LE2.3 billion and ticket revenues of LE two billion which has been attributable to strikes and railway blockage and thefts of electric signals and rails.
