Railway tickets to be hiked 20-25% -Arafat

The Transport Ministry plans to hike railway tickets by 20-25% and will also raise prices on shorter train runs, minister Hisham Arafat announced yesterday. The short-distance train routes are the biggest drain of resources at Egyptian National Railways, Arafat said, explaining that the price hikes will help support upgrades and new railway projects that will cost north of EGP 52 bn by 2022. ENR’s budget deficit is also widening, with its revenues hovering around EGP 2.2 bn against expenditures of EGP 5.5 bn. While the minister did not give a time frame for the planned price hikes, he had said last month that they would be implemented by the end of June.