Contract to build Egypt’s first railway under Khedive Abbas Pasha

The first railway in Egypt, the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East: In 1851, Egyptian ruler Khedive Abbas Pasha commissioned the first-ever railway project in the region, signing a contract with Scottish engineer Robert Stephenson, according to Youm7. The landmark project cost Egypt EGP 56,000 — a rather sizeable sum at the time. Abbas Pasha’s first step laid the groundwork for his successors, including Said Pasha and Ismail Pasha, to expand the country’s rail network.