CAIRO | Metro

[Bitxofo]

I went to Egypt 2 weeks ago and I took the line 2 of Cairo metro.

I post some photos here:


Network map. Copyright by UrbanRail.

Line 2:


Metro logo.

Network map.

Entrance to SADAT station.

SADAT station hall.

SADAT station.

Platform direction GiZA.

OPERA (Gezira) station.

Interior of a train.

EL BEHOOS station.

CAiRO UNiVERSiTY station.

GiZA station.

SAKiET MEKKY station.

Cabin of a train of line 2.

SAKiET MEKKY station, covered area and train.

Train in line 2.

GiZA station.

GiZA station exit.

GiZA station tiles.

Outside GiZA station.

[nastyathenian]

Surprisingly clean metro. Fortunately the signs are also in English!

[Chavito]

Thanks for all the pictures Bitxofo!!!!

Have you got any photo from Line 1?

[samsonyuen]

Wow, you took pics of the system? When I was there in 99, I asked one of the soldiers on the platform, and he declined my request to take a picture.

[Bitxofo]

No problem to take pictures, except photos of policemen or soldiers inside the metro!

@Chavito:
I used line 1 in the year 2000, and I took some analogic photos, I have got them in paper but I don't know where...

[Chavito]

No problem Bitxofo. I hope you'll find them someday

[Skybean]

It looks more modern than Toronto's system.

[Bitxofo]

Depending on the lines...

[MarkO]

Great photos!

Did you by any chance (or has anyone else) got a clear photo of the Cairo Metro Map? It's very difficult to get hold of fromthe operator. Simple, clear hi res photo would do the trick nicely!

:-)
Mark

[Cartel]

From Wikipedia;

Plans
Four more lines are proposed — all with the goal of reducing Cairo's chronic road congestion — with Line 3 (green) from Imbaba / Mohandessin to Abbasiya, and eventually to Cairo International Airport at Heliopolis. Line 4 is expected to go from the southwest at Al Ahram to the east at Nasr City; Line 5 is planned as a half-circular line connecting all the other lines, from Nasr City to Port Said Street and Shubra El Kheima; and Line 6 is to be a north-south line from Shubra to Maadi.

A recent transportation study of the Greater Cairo region was completed in 1999 and recommended the implementation of four new metro lines, Lines 3, 4, 5 and 6, in addition to the two existing lines presently under operation. The completed Metro Network will be capable of serving most of the densely populated areas in the Greater Cairo region, which is in much need of a mass transit system. The Metro Network includes many interchange stations between the six metro lines and also provides interchange facilities with existing main railway stations and bus terminal stations.

Line No. 3 in this plan has become an important project; this line extends from the north west of the Greater Cairo at Imbaba to the north-east at Heliopolis and will also serve the Cairo International Airport. The line crosses under the two branches of the River Nile, same as Line 2. The total length of the line is approximately 30 km most of which is in bored tunnel and will be implemented in four phases. The project includes a Main Workshop adjacent to the western terminal of the line and a Light Repair Workshop at the middle of the line at Abbasia. The implementation of Line No. 3 will start with Attaba to Abbasia section, the first phase, followed by the second phase from Abbasia to Heliopolis, which are the most urgent sections for the transportation needs. The basic design of phase 1, 6 km in length, has just started and will be completed by the end of year 2001 to be ready for launching as an international tender for its construction. The design of phase 1 is taking into consideration the safe crossing of two major underground structures; namely, the line 2 bored tunnel at Attaba and the wastewater spine tunnel north of Attaba. It is also planned that some of the underground stations will be extensively used as commercial centres. These stations will be constructed by the cut-and-cover method and the rolling stock will be fed by power through a third rail.

Line No. 4 crosses the region from the south-west at Al Ahram to the east at Nasr City, a length of 24 km most of which is also in bored tunnel and crosses under the two branches of the River Nile.

Line No. 5 is a half-circular line connecting lines 1, 2, 3 and 4 and has a length of 20 km. The entire route is in bored tunnel.

Line No. 6 is a longitudinal line stretching from the north of the city to the south, a length of 19 km, most of which is in bored tunnel. The six metro lines are planned to meet the transportation demands of the Greater Cairo area up to the year 2022. However, the actual construction and implementation schedule will be restricted by the available funding resources.

[hkskyline]

Africa's only subway system a smooth ride
Jun 02, 2007 04:30 AM
Oakland Ross
Toronto Star
MIDDLE EAST BUREAU

CAIRO–"There are just two things that work in Egypt," a young denizen of this teeming North African capital was observing the other day, "the telephone information system – and the Cairo Metro."

I don't know about Egypt's telephone information system, but praise Allah for the Cairo Metro. Not only is it the only subway system in all of Africa, but it works very well.

Give credit where it's due. For all his shortcomings in certain other areas – human rights, for example, or democratic institutions – President Hosni Mubarak deserves congratulations for his foresight on the transit front. It was under his watch that the Cairo Metro got started, something that few commuters here are likely to forget, considering that a huge likeness of the Egyptian leader appears in practically all of the stations arrayed along the Metro's two working lines. A third line is supposed to open someday, although no one seems quite certain when.

There is, inevitably, a station named after the incumbent president, a circumstance that highlights one of several conspicuous differences between the Cairo Metro and the Toronto subway system. Another station is called Sadat, for late president and Nobel laureate Anwar Sadat, and yet another is named after Gamal Abdel Nasser, that giant of pan-Arab nationalism, who ruled the country from 1954 to 1970.

Operated by the aptly dubbed National Authority for Tunnels, the Cairo Metro runs from five o'clock each morning until 1 a.m. and carries an estimated 2.7 million passengers a day – a very good thing. Otherwise, those same travellers would be riding in cars, of which in Cairo there are altogether too many.

"It's very convenient, it's clean and it's fast," says one commuter named Mohamed Hamdi, who works at a military factory as a technician but won't provide more information. "It's sensitive," he adds, meaning his job, not the Metro.

But the Metro seems to be somewhat sensitive, too, not surprising in a city where terrorist incidents have been known to occur now and then. "No photography – no," declares a police officer clad in a white uniform with a black beret.

He waves his arms at a camera-toting visitor – actually, me – who is snapping away on an underground platform in violation of a system-wide ban on the use of cameras.

Construction on Line 1 of the Metro began in 1983, and the network has gradually expanded since then. A 1.3 kilometre extension of Line 2 was inaugurated in 2000, bringing the total length of track to 63 kilometres (compared with 68.3 kilometres – the combined length of Toronto's three subway lines). Although run by a tunnel authority, much of the Metro is above ground. In fact, only 17 of its 52 stations are located underground.

The stations themselves are generally spacious and clean. The escalators typically are in working order. The tickets are moderately priced, for most people – just 1 Egyptian pound (about 20 cents). And each train has a car or two reserved for women and children.

On the other hand, Shamaa Saad, a young female architecture student, reports that she often rides in the unreserved cars, usually with a girlfriend, and doesn't encounter problems. In fact, an almost chivalric code seems to prevail on the trains. Based on my admittedly limited experience of the system, men here are far more likely than are their Toronto counterparts to surrender their seats to women.

Without the Metro, it is difficult to imagine how this city could survive. A great many more people would have to do what overwhelming throngs of Cairo residents are already obliged to do, day in, day out.

They would have to swelter for hours on end in the Gordian knot of this city's incessant traffic jams, leaning on their horns, shaking their fists at other similarly frustrated motorists, while a near infinity of internal-combustion engines pumped unthinkable quantities of carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the dry desert air.

"I personally think it's the worst traffic I've ever seen," says a European diplomat in Cairo, who has possibly never been to Lagos. But Lagos lacks an underground Metro system, while Cairo – alone on this continent – has one. Praise Allah.

[patber33]

Thanks for all the pictures Bitxofo!!!!

Have you got any map in ARABIC of the cairo metro ?

NB I'm living in france and I can give any french subway plan.
sincerely yours

[dwdwone]

Is there also a tramway system in Cairo?

[Jim856796]

Yes. The tram system was constructed near the beginning of the 20th Century.

[Songoten2554]

i hear that Metro Line 1 is the french line and the regional one

and Metro Line 2 is the Japanese line and fully metro??

good thing their expanding the system Cairo needs it alot

[Gag Halfrunt]

Originally Posted by Songoten2554

i hear that Metro Line 1 is the french line and the regional one

and Metro Line 2 is the Japanese line and fully metro??

For what it's worth, the Line 2 trains appear to be based on the MF 77 from Paris.

[Chavito]

Great pictures from Line 1

[Ashis Mitra]

Originally Posted by Jim856796

Yes. The tram system was constructed near the beginning of the 20th Century.

The Cairo city tram system has closed in 2004. Two suburbs has trams. Heliopolis has larger tram network, whose one line connects Cairo. Helwan has a short tram system.

[Xusein]

Cool pics. I didn't even know that Cairo had a metro.

[Tcmetro]

They need one in Lagos. How do all those people get around without a metro?!? They opened BRT recently, though.