The Egyptian National Railways’ agreement with Russia’s Transmashholding to supply 1,300 railway cars was the most significant piece of news to come out of last night’s talk shows, which otherwise had very little to offer.

Transmashholding wins contract to supply National Railways with 1,300 railway cars: Russia’s Transmashholding appears to have won the drawn out tender to supply the Egyptian National Railways (ENR) with 1,300 railway cars, ENR head Ashraf Raslan tells Yahduth Fi Masr’s Sherif Amer (watch; runtime: 6:14). Egypt will pay around EGP 17 bn to buy the cars, with delivery expected to take place in a period of six months to a year, he added. His statements follow a meeting between company officials, Russian First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Georgy Kalamanov, Raslan and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi yesterday to discuss the contract, according to an Ittihadiya statement. Russia "is interested in cooperation with Egypt in the area of railway transport and plans to use all possibilities to help Egypt maintain and develop its railways,” said Kalamanov at the meeting.

Raslan noted that the contracts have not been signed yet and negotiations on the fine print are ongoing. Transmashholding appears to have beat out China’s CRRC Corporation Limited, which was also a frontrunner to win the contract. The agreement stipulates that the locomotives meet a 40% domestic component requirement by cooperating with either SEMAF or one of the Military Production Ministry’s factories. Ittihadiya Spokesman Bassam Rady also phoned in to Al Hayah fi Masr and Masaa DMC to further discuss the agreement and Egypt’s railway upgrade plans (watch, runtime: 8:20 and runtime: 7:10). (Disclaimer: we had incorrectly been noting this as a tender to supply locomotives in our previous coverage).

Economic ties with Italy have not been hampered by the ongoing investigations into Giulio Regeni’s murder, Rady told Masaa DMC’s Amr Khalil as they discussed Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Milanesi’s visit to Cairo (we have the full story in Egypt in the News, below). Rady made sure to stress that Egyptian authorities have cooperated in full to solve the case and bring the perpetrators to justice (watch, runtime: 7:10).

Civil servants might see longer working hours in exchange for a four-day work week, as part of a proposal from the Central Authority for Organization and Administration (CAOA) to reduce bureaucrats’ work weeks. According to Yahduth fi Masr’s Sherif Amer’s sources, longer days are one of several ideas CAOA is looking at ahead of presenting a proposal to the prime minister in a month. The proposal is meant to cut costs and reduce congestion around government agencies, while increasing efficiency (watch, runtime: 4:20).

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid recapped Minister Sameh Shoukry’s agenda during his two-day visit to Washington with Hona Al Asema’s Reham Ibrahim (watch, runtime: 7:25).

Last week’s removal of a deceased patient’s corneas at Qasr Al Aini Hospital continues to be an issue of concern for Ibrahim, who hosted former assistant health minister Abdel Hamid Abaza for a prolonged discussion of the issue on Hona Al Asema. Abaza’s verdict is that the move is legal but somewhat ethically dodgy (watch, runtime: 1:45 and runtime: 2:34).