The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has agreed to give the Finance Ministry a USD 150 mn loan to finance the automation of the signaling system on the Damietta-Mansoura cargo railway line, Minister Hisham Arafat said, Al Shorouk reports. No further details were provided, but Arafat said that the government was planning to automate signaling systems along a number of different service rail lines by FY2020-2021. We had noted in January that the ministry was seeking the loan to partially finance the 150 km freight line, which would take three years to fully construct.