The national railway company of Egypt —
ENR (Egyptian National Railways) — has awarded
Talgo with a new contract worth about 280 million euros for seven passenger trains to be used on night services. The ‘enforcement of the awarded contract’ is subject to ‘precedent conditions related to the financing of the project,’ which are expected to be met in the coming months.
The project includes the construction of the trains at the Alava (Rivabellosa) and Madrid (Las Matas) plants in Spain, as well as their maintenance — for a period of 15 years — at Talgo’s existing facilities in Egypt. The trains, which will be from the Intercity car platform with which Talgo recently won contracts from Germany and Denmark, will make it possible to offer long-distance services that will contribute to reducing carbon emissions in Egypt. According to the current schedule, deliveries will start in 2024.
The first six trains from a 2019 contract have already been delivered and consist of a locomotive and up to 15 passenger carriages each. They will be used by ENR on the country’s ‘backbone track’, which runs almost parallel to the Nile River, connecting the Mediterranean port of Alexandria with Aswan, Egypt’s southernmost city.
Talgo SA, which has its headquarters in Spain and is a leading company in the design, manufacture and maintenance of high-speed light trains, has a manufacturing presence in seven countries, including Spain, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the USA, among others.
Talgo is also the main supplier of high-speed and ultra-high-speed trains to Renfe (Spain’s state-owned rail company) and the supplier of trains in the ‘Haramain’ high-speed railway line project between Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. The company is also the manufacturer chosen by the German operator Deutsche Bahn, and the Danish operator DSB to decarbonise its network with the Talgo 230 long-distance trains.