Minister of Transport Hesham Arafat took responsibility for the Beheira train collision which killed 15 people on Wednesday, admitting that \u201cthe railway system has not been developed in 60 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parliamentarians criticized Arafat on Sunday, as well as the Egypt National Railways Authority, after yet another fatal Egyptian railway accident.<\/p>\n
During the parliament\u2019s general session, Speaker of the House of Representatives Ali Abdelaal blasted the railway system as \u201cout of date,\u201d saying it needs huge investments to modernize it.<\/p>\n
Abdelaal added that the state \u201cmust participate with the private sector like Arab and foreign countries did. If the state budget was totally used to reform the railway authority, it will not be enough [to modernize it].<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Arafat took responsibility saying \u201cI confirm to you I am responsible.\u201d He noted that the ministry has prepared a plan to improve the country\u2019s trains, but admitted that progress has been slow.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have 900 train vehicles under development, but they have not been completed. Only their metal iron and tiles were changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is also a maintenance problem,\u201d he said, \u201cwe have engine transport vehicles which have been moving on the railroads since 1970, although they were meant to work only for 12 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arafat spoke of issues facing the entire railway transport system, expanding beyond the trains themselves. \u201cThe problem is not only limited to locomotives and vehicles, signals are also a major problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued, \u201c85 percent of signals work mechanically, dependent on a human element, while 15 percent of signals rely on electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c98 percent of accidents [were caused by] electric signal [failures] over the past 30 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Arafat affirmed that the railway authority is implementing LE55 billion into projects which will be complete in 2022, to improve the current locomotives.<\/p>\n
Another 100 locomotives which were provided to Egypt in 2008 are being repaired.<\/p>\n
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Minister of Transport Hesham Arafat took responsibility for the Beheira train collision which killed 15 people on Wednesday, admitting that \u201cthe railway system has not been developed in 60 years.\u201d Parliamentarians criticized Arafat on Sunday, as well as the Egypt National Railways Authority, after yet another fatal Egyptian railway accident. During the parliament\u2019s general session, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":75563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7863],"tags":[32921,34180,21485,20326],"class_list":["post-75562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-section","tag-ali-abdelaal","tag-beheira-train-collision","tag-hesham-arafat","tag-minister-of-transport"],"yoast_head":"\n