CAIRO - (Xinhua) - The Egyptian Ministry of Transport announced today, Tuesday, the signing of a cooperation protocol with the Spanish company (Talgo) to localize the railway carriage industry in Egypt.

The ministry stated, in a statement on its official Facebook page, that Minister of Transport Kamel Al-Wazir witnessed today the signing of a cooperation protocol to establish an Egyptian factory for the manufacture of railway passenger cars, between the National Authority for Egyptian Railways, the Spanish company Talgo and the Egyptian National Company. for the railway industry (NREK), to settle the railroad car industry in Egypt.

According to the statement, the protocol includes "manufacture of 500 various railway passenger cars with global Talgo technology as a first stage out of a total of 1,000 railway cars planned to be manufactured locally."

This protocol is the second in the field of localizing the mobile unit industry in Egypt, after the contract previously signed between the South Korean Hyundai Rotem and the Egyptian Nirc to localize the subway train industry in Egypt.

Transport Minister Kamel Al-Wazir considered that the signing of the protocol with the Spanish company is "an important step towards implementing the directives of the political leadership and the Egyptian government to localize heavy industries in Egypt, including the manufacture of mobile units according to the latest methods in line with international standards."

He added, "Cooperation with major international companies specialized in the localization of the mobile unit industry makes Egypt the first country to manufacture mobile units in the Middle East and Africa, and represents the first step in realizing the dream of Egypt being one of the major industrial countries in this field, and providing all the needs of huge national projects." implemented by the state in the field of subway projects and means of electric traction.

In conjunction with the signing of the protocol, the Egyptian Railways Authority and the Spanish company signed a contract to manufacture and supply 7 new luxury sleeper trains.

The contract includes the implementation of maintenance work for a period of 15 years and the supply of spare parts and equipment for trains.

The minister explained that the signing of this contract comes as a continuation of a series of "huge" deals being concluded for the comprehensive development of the railway facility.

He pointed out that this deal will contribute to supporting the current fleet of sleeper trains by rail, and will constitute a "major quantum leap" in providing a luxurious service worthy of the masses of Egyptian travelers and tourists.