Train traffic in Upper Egypt was temporarily halted on Wednesday when maintenance workers for the state-run Egyptian National Railways (ENR) blocked rail lines to demand better pay and benefits.
ENR head Hani Hegab said protesting workers had begun their demonstration early Wednesday morning, preventing two Cairo-bound trains (numbers 901 and 905) from departing on schedule.
Demonstrators, he said, were demanding bonus payments that they did not qualify for. He added that negotiations were currently underway in hopes of persuading them to end their demonstration.
Hegab went on to note that the ENR had provided two alternate trains to compensate for those that had been obstructed by protesters. He also said that overall train movement had returned to normal through “alternative means.”
Following Egypt’s revolution in January, protesters in several governorates had repeatedly blocked railway lines in hopes of pressuring the authorities to meet their respective demands.
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