Egypt's Transport Minister Kamel El-Wazir discussed in a meeting on Tuesday with a delegation from Canada's Bombardier Inc. cooperation in the railway sector through carrying out maintenance work on locomotives.

During the meeting, which was attended by chairman of the Egyptian National Railway Authority Ashraf Raslan, El-Wazir said the transport ministry is working on enhancing the system of locomotives, revealing plans to purchase 250 new engines and maintain stalled ones, as well as building new rail workshops.

The ministry is keen on obtaining original spare parts for locomotives from foreign rail companies, El-Wazir added.

The two sides also probed the possibility of upgrading a number of locomotives, especially those produced by Henschel & Son and Adtranz. 

El-Wazir was recently appointed as the new transport minister after his predecessor Hisham Arafat resigned following a fatal train crash and blaze in a central Cairo railway station that killed 22 people; one of the country's deadliest railway accidents in recent years.

El-Wazir said that the upcoming period will witness projects and procurement deals by the Railway Authority including the procurement of 1,300 new passenger carriages, six new trains, 200 new locomotives and 300 new cargo carriages.

He added that the projects to renovate railway signals, railways, train stations and crossings will go forward.

Egypt's railway system has a poor safety record, with frequent deadly collisions often blamed on lack of maintenance and poor management.