Egypt’s Megaproject That Will Rival Suez Canal

Egypt is building a roughly 600-kilometer long high-speed rail line linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean called the Green Line, under a $4.5 billion contract with a consortium including German firm Siemens. Workers are laying the railway tracks in the desert east of Cairo, according to AFP.

Why It Matters

The Green Line is part of a roughly 2,000-kilometer long high-speed railway network designed to connect seaports, industrial and agricultural zones, logistics hubs, and new urban communities across the country, while aiming to reduce travel times, cut carbon dioxide emissions, and support sustainable economic growth, authorities say.

What To Know

The revamped rail network is expected to carry about 15 million tonnes of cargo per year, equivalent to roughly 3 percent of last year’s Suez Canal transit volume, Tarek Goueili, head of Egypt's National Authority for Tunnels told AFP Tuesday.

Like the Suez Canal, which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, the rail line links by land Egypt’s Red Sea port of Ain Sokhna with the Mediterranean ports of Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh. This line will be the backbone of the network, combining high-speed passenger services, regional trains, and cargo trains, according to Egyptian state media Al-Ahram.