Photo courtesy of Egypt's cabinet
On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Industry and Transport Kamel Al-Wazir held talks with Austria’s ambassador in Cairo, Georg Postinger, and executives from 10 major Austrian rail companies focused on expanding industrial cooperation to manufacture railway components and systems in Egypt for the local market and export, in line with directives by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to localize transport-related industries.
Egypt has already started producing railway switches locally through a joint venture with Austria’s voestalpine, following the upgrade of the Abbasiya railway workshops in Cairo.
Production has started at around 50 switches per month, with plans to reach 600 units annually to meet domestic demand and export needs, according to the ministry.
Al-Wazir said Egypt is no longer merely a market for importing rolling stock and railway equipment, but is steadily transforming into a manufacturing and export hub serving African, Arab, and Middle Eastern markets.
He stressed that the Ministries of Transport and Industry are ready to cooperate immediately with serious international partners seeking to localize production in Egypt.
During the meeting, the minister reviewed cooperation with Austria’s Plasser & Theurer, which has a long-standing partnership with Egyptian National Railways.
The company recently trained 30 Egyptian engineers in Austria on the maintenance of advanced railway machinery and has established an after-sales service and maintenance centre in Egypt.
Discussions also covered a 2024–2025 contract to supply a fleet of modern track maintenance machines, including tamping, ballast shaping, ballast cleaning, and rail-welding equipment, to support the development of Egypt’s railway infrastructure.
The two sides explored the possibility of establishing a local factory to produce spare parts or assemble such machinery in Egypt for both domestic use and export.
Al-Wazir further discussed with Lion Industrial Materials plans to establish a factory in Egypt to produce train wheels and axles for freight, passenger, and metro trains, as part of efforts to localise this strategic industry.
The meeting also included talks with several other Austrian firms specializing in railway signalling, welding technologies, vibration and noise insulation, suspension systems, heavy railway equipment, and testing and certification services.
The minister called for intensified technical meetings in the coming period with Egyptian transport authorities to fast-track feasibility studies and move toward implementation.
Austria is a long-standing partner in Egypt’s rail modernization drive, with several Austrian companies already active in track maintenance, switches and turnouts, signalling, welding technologies, vibration control, and quality certification.
Cooperation has increasingly shifted from procurement toward joint ventures, local assembly, skills transfer, and workforce training, including overseas technical training programmes for Egyptian engineers.
A key milestone has been the partnership with voestalpine, which enabled the modernisation of the Abbasiya workshops in Cairo and the start of local production of railway switches to international standards.
In parallel, Plasser & Theurer has supported Egypt’s rail infrastructure through advanced maintenance equipment, local after-sales services, and specialised training for Egyptian engineers.
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