Transmashholding has delivered the first new passenger coaches for Egypt which have arrived at Alexandria Port on June 25. Starting 1 July, the passenger coaches entered commercial services, operated by the Egyptian National Railways (ENR).
The coaches will be sent to Cairo to start commercial operation on 1 July. They will follow another ten-batch of cars that have left Russia on June 19 and are expected to arrive at the beginning of July.
With one coach delivered in April 2020 for testing, this first batch includes 33 third-class vehicles equipped with dynamic ventilation.
The coaches were transported by trucks from Tver plant – TVZ, where they are produced, to the port of Saint Petersburg and loaded onto a vessel heading for the port of Alexandria.
“We are extremely pleased to have been able, despite the challenging context of the Covid-19 pandemic, to deliver on-time the first coaches to ENR and to successfully complete the certification test campaign in Hungary and Egypt,” said David John, Chief Technical Officer at TMH International.
The UIC 1435mm vehicles designed by TMH can operate in sand and dust under temperatures up to +50°C with a 40-year lifecycle.
In April, TMH managed to load the first coach for ENR on the last vessel leaving Slovenia before the lock-down period, allowing ENR to start 2-month running tests on its railway network. Unable to travel abroad, TMH specialists in Russia have developed a full training kit and documentation pack for ENR and relied locally on TÜV Nord Egypt technical expertise to supervise the testing together with TMH Egypt local team.
ENR has ordered 1,300 passenger coaches under a EUR 1 billion contract signed in 2018. The contract includes the delivery of 5 types of coaches, including a 5-year warranty period. In addition to the warranty, TMH Egypt would be ready to maintain the fleet. The five different models include 500 third-class coaches with dynamic ventilation, 500 third-class air-conditioned cars, 180 second-class coaches, 90 first-class with HVAC and 30 second-class restaurant-cars.
The new passenger coaches for Egypt will add a 30% increased capacity to the current passenger fleet and will significantly increase its reliability and safety.
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