The internal radio at Cairo's Ramsis train station, the country's main train hub, announced that the government has grounded all trains to a halt in order to ensure the public's safety.

The announcement said protests by demonstrators at Ard El-Lewa train crossing in Giza are the cause for the decision, but gave no details.

Residents of the working class district, on the outskirts of the capital, have been protesting for weeks to force the government to upgrade railway crossing safety in the wake of a deadly accident in early January when a train struck a taxi at an undermanned crossing in the area.

Egypt has been plagued by train accidents that left hundreds dead in the past ten years.