A devastating railway accident near Cairo has claimed the lives of at least seven people and left 112 others injured, raising fresh concerns over safety standards along Egypt’s historic rail network.

The disaster occurred on Sunday, 8 November, near the Giza governorate, just south of the Egyptian capital. According to a statement issued by the Egyptian National Railways authority, the collision took place on a stretch of track situated between the Kafr Ammar and Al-Raqqa railway stations. A passenger train travelling along the corridor rammed into the rear of another service operating on the same line, causing several carriages to derail and crushing metal work upon impact.

Emergency medical units rushed to the scene shortly after the alarm was raised. The Ministry of Health and Population deployed dozens of ambulances to transport the injured to nearby medical facilities across the Giza and Cairo governorates. Heavy mechanical cranes and clearance crews were dispatched to lift the mangled wreckage off the tracks and clear debris, causing widespread delays and disruptions along the busy transport route.

Updating the public on the casualty situation, health officials confirmed that while dozens remained under medical care, 45 of the injured had responded well to treatment and were subsequently discharged from hospital.

The incident prompted an immediate response from Egypt’s head of state. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a statement via his official social media page expressing his deep condolences to the bereaved families. He ordered a comprehensive investigation to determine the exact circumstances and technical failures that led to the crash, promising accountability for anyone found responsible for negligence.

This tragic collision underscores the systemic challenges facing one of the oldest rail networks in the Middle East and Africa. Passenger lines across the country have long suffered from aging infrastructure, inadequate maintenance, and signaling failures, leading to a series of high-profile transport disasters over the past decade.

In 2019, an unbraked locomotive crashed into a barrier at Cairo’s central Ramses Station, triggering a massive fuel explosion that killed 25 people and sparked major political fallout. Two years prior, in 2017, two passenger trains collided head-on near the coastal city of Alexandria, resulting in more than 40 fatalities and scores of injuries. Although the Egyptian government has initiated multi-billion-pound modernisations in recent years to overhaul track systems and upgrade locomotives, Sunday’s collision highlights the ongoing vulnerabilities within the nation’s transport infrastructure.