Egypt's Transport Minister Admits Railway Failings After Deadly Train Crash, Cites Management Weaknesses

Egypt's Transport Minister, Lt Gen Kamel El Wazir, has acknowledged shortcomings within the nation's railway system following a fatal train crash, while also defending past investments in the network. The collision, which claimed seven lives and injured 125, has reignited questions about the effectiveness of billions spent on train safety.

Addressing parliament's transport committee for approximately six hours on Tuesday, Lt Gen El Wazir stated that passenger safety falls under his purview, even as he mourned the victims of the El Ayyat crash. "We acknowledge that there are mistakes, and our aim is to prevent accidents or reduce them," he told legislators, adding, "There are still mistakes and there will still be mistakes." This candid admission marks a departure for the minister, who has previously faced calls for his resignation.

The admission follows a detailed account from prosecutors regarding the crash's cause. According to their findings, technical checks indicated that the driver of one train had deactivated the Automatic Train Control (ATC) system before colliding with a stationary Cairo-Aswan service on the same track. The ATC system is designed to automatically intervene in cases of driver error, such as exceeding speed limits or running red signals.

Injured passengers reported to investigators that the train had been traveling at high speed from El Ayyat station. The driver was among those killed in the incident. Prosecutors have detained the controller and station master at Raqqa station, who have reportedly admitted to neglecting their monitoring duties and tampering with the signal log. The driver's assistant is also being questioned.

The prosecutor general has commissioned a committee of engineering professors from Cairo University to conduct a comprehensive review of the railway authority's safety, signalling, and maintenance systems. This review will assess the impact of upgrades on accident rates and examine past incidents for recurring issues.

The involvement of the ATC system in this crash is particularly significant, as it has been implicated in previous fatal accidents. Following a 2021 collision in Sohag that resulted in at least 19 deaths, Lt Gen El Wazir admitted that drivers had turned off the ATC system. At that time, he had also allowed the system to be partially suspended on certain routes due to passenger complaints about delays.

On Tuesday, however, the minister offered a different perspective on the 2021 incident. "People say I issued instructions to shut down the ATC. Yes, it happened, but people are taking my words out of context," he stated. He characterized the earlier decision as an exceptional measure influenced by heavy rain, which necessitated trains operating at a reduced speed of 15 kph. He further noted that disabling the ATC system has since become grounds for dismissal and expressed uncertainty about why it was switched off in the recent crash, deferring to the prosecution's findings.

During the parliamentary hearing, Lt Gen El Wazir also revealed that 21 officials had approved the train's safety checks before its departure. He made another notable admission: "I acknowledge that we are not good at management and the private sector has the tools to succeed." He suggested that external operators could potentially link pay to performance but did not announce any new privatization initiatives.

Regarding the railway's finances, Lt Gen El Wazir defended its borrowing, stating that approximately $3.05 billion had been drawn from external loan services totaling $5.1 billion, with $870 million already repaid from railway revenue. He also indicated that much of the debt he inherited in 2019 has been settled.

While these figures pertain specifically to the railway, the ministry faces scrutiny over the broader transport program's debt. Some legislators have called for his resignation, distinguishing political accountability from criminal liability, while others, like government loyalist Mostafa Bakry, have defended him, accusing critics of "political assassination" and urging that blame be determined by investigators.

The parliamentary committee has proposed over 25 recommendations concerning safety and operations. They also called for a wider investigation into the persistent accident rate in El Ayyat, a location with a history of major rail disasters, including the deadliest in Egypt's history in 2002, and numerous subsequent crashes.