French infrastructure company NGE has signed a contract to help build a 330km high-speed railway in Egypt.

It will connect the Red Sea port of Ain Sokhna to Borg al-Arab near Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast, running through the Cairo satellite town 6^th of October City.

NGE subsidiary TSO will work for Egyptian builders Orascom and Arab Contractors.

Orso Vesperini, NGE’s senior vice president, said the line would give some 90% of Egyptians access to fast public transport, and shift road freight traffic to rail.

NGE did not disclose the value of the contract. When Orascom and Arab Contractors won the project from the National Authority for Tunnels, the value was given as $4.5bn (see further reading).

The line will be able to transport 30 million people a year, cutting some travel times in half. Siemens is providing the rolling stock.

Last year, Siemens won a $3bn deal to supply train sets for the whole of Egypt’s planned 2,000km high-speed network.