Egyptian National Railways (ENR) has inked a deal with the Russian-Hungarian consortium Transmashholding-Hungary worth EGP 22 bn to import and manufacture 1,300 passenger carriages in Egypt, Invest-Gate reports.

The five-year contract is “the largest deal in the history of Egyptian railways,” Transmashholding said in a statement on September 25.

Under the deal, a car building plant will be developed by Transmashholding in partnership with Egypt’s National Organization for Military Production to manufacture locomotives and rails.

Speaking at a press conference following the ceremony, Transport Minister Hisham Arafat said the deal includes 800 air-conditioned train carriages, with the first batch to be delivered after 14 months.

The agreement aims at improving the level of transportation services in the country and is in line with Egypt’s 2030 vision to achieve sustainable development via enhancing the railway infrastructure, Arafat added.

The signing ceremony was held in the presence of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Minister of Military Production Mohamed El Assar, representatives of the Russian-Hungarian company, the head of ENR, in addition to Arafat.

The contract was awarded to Transmashholding in a tender held in 2017 and involved competitive offers submitted by companies from China, Italy, India, and Romania, according to the statement.