Contracts for second + third lines of Egypt’s high-speed railway to be signed in March: The Transport Ministry and the consortium of Siemens Mobility, Orascom Construction and Arab Contractors tasked with building Egypt’s first high-speed rail line are next month set to sign final contracts for the second and third lines of the project, after completing “marathon negotiations that lasted for several months,” according to a cabinet statement. The second and third lines of the 1.7k-km high-speed rail network will connect 6th of October with Aswan, and Luxor to Hurghada via Qena and Safaga.

Background: The three-line high-speed rail project is set to link Cairo, Aswan, the North Coast and the Red Sea. The Siemens / Orascom / Arab Contractors consortium was last year contracted to design, install and maintain the first phase of the line, which runs 660 km between Ain Sokhna, Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh and is set to be completed by 2023. Passenger trains on the line will travel at up to 250 km/hour, reducing journey times by around 50%.