Egypt accelerates rehabilitation of Raml Tram to boost capacity, cut travel time

Minister of Transport Kamel Al-Wazir toured Alexandria to review progress on the rehabilitation and modernisation of the historic Raml Tram, a flagship national project aimed at upgrading urban mobility and easing traffic congestion across the coastal city.

The 13.2-kilometre line, comprising 24 stations, including 5.7 km at grade, 7.3 km elevated, and 276 metres underground, extends westward from Victoria Station through key districts such as San Stefano, Gianaclis, Al-Wizara, Roushdy, Mostafa Kamel, Sidi Gaber, Sporting, Al-Ibrahimiya, and Raml.

Once completed, the project will nearly triple the tram’s capacity from around 4,700 passengers per hour per direction to 13,800. Travel time will be reduced from 60 minutes to 35 minutes, operational speeds will increase to 70 km/h, and headways will be cut from nine minutes to just three.

Al-Wazir stressed that the rehabilitation preserves the tram’s historic character while upgrading it to meet modern standards of safety and efficiency. The scheme includes advanced signalling systems to ease congestion at major intersections and retains existing passenger congregation points.

He added that the project incorporates environmental and social dimensions, notably through reduced emissions and noise pollution by relying on clean electric power, as well as the creation of both direct and indirect employment opportunities during construction and operation.

The minister also reviewed progress on the supply of 30 new tram units from Hyundai Rotem, which includes spare parts and maintenance support for eight years. In parallel, authorities have implemented an alternative transport plan during service suspensions, deploying 206 vehicles across three main corridors with peak headways of three to five minutes.