Egypt's challenge: Returning home to Alexandria

Egypt's political system has gone through enormous upheaval with the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, contested elections and the emergence of political Islam as a dominant force.

The ride from Cairo to Alexandria shouldn't take more than two hours on a fast train. I remember how happy I always was as a child when we finally arrived at Sidi Gaber station. Even though I couldn't see the seafront just yet, I knew I was home.

I haven't lived in Alexandria for decades and going back now as a reporter a few things have changed. The train ride lasts more than three-and-a-half hours now, a mixture of a very slow, not very well-maintained train and failing signals all the way.

"They're extra cautious now, after the crash," a passenger tells me, noticing my frustration.

A few weeks earlier, 19 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in a train crash in the Badrashin area in Giza, and in November 50 children aged between four to six years old and the driver of the school bus they were on were killed when their vehicle was hit by a train in the Manfalut area south of Cairo.

What was once a childhood adventure now feels like gambling with your life.