Egypt signs EUR 1 bn loan agreement for Russian railcar purchase: Egyptian National Railways head Ashraf Raslan signed on Thursday a ُEUR 1.02 bn (c. EGP 18.28 bn) financing agreement for the government’s purchase of 1,300 railcars from Russia’s Transmashholding, the Transport Ministry said in a statement. The Hungarian Export-Import Bank and Russia’s State Specialized Russian Export-Import Bank have agreed to partially finance the EGP 22 bn contract signed last year that will see Transmashholding manufacture and supply 800 air-conditioned coaches and 500 with dynamic ventilation. There were no details on the loan’s repayment terms. The announcement came less than two weeks after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi discussed the contract with Hungarian President Janos Ader during talks in Cairo.

Delivery of first batch delayed by two months: The first batch of 60 railcars is set to be delivered in March, two months later than the ministry had previously said. Another 120 are expected to reach Egypt before the end of June.