{"id":702070,"date":"2026-05-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/?p=702070"},"modified":"2026-05-13T12:13:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:13:49","slug":"putting-new-cairos-state-of-the-art-monorail-to-the-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2026\/05\/13\/putting-new-cairos-state-of-the-art-monorail-to-the-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting New Cairo\u2019s state-of-the-art monorail to the test"},"content":{"rendered":"

\ud83d\ude89 The new monorail line<\/a><\/strong>, or at least the portion now open to the <\/strong>public, is short but sweet. <\/strong>Only 16 out of 22 stops on the Eastern portion are now functional, starting with El Moshir Tantawy<\/a>Station<\/a> in New Cairo and ending at Justice City Station<\/a> in the New Capital. End to end, the trip took a little under an hour to complete vs. around an hour and half by car depending on traffic. Because you are significantly elevated above street level, you get a rare bird\u2019s eye view of Cairo\u2019s urban sprawl and the expansive New Capital from the comfort of a fast, air-conditioned train.<\/p>\n

The<\/strong> monorail has been six years in the making.<\/strong> Back in 2019, an Alstom<\/a> -led consortium composed of Orascom Construction and Arab Contractors signed the USD 4.5 bn contract to design, construct, operate, and maintain the monorail, and construction began soon after. Cairo\u2019s monorail line is also the longest in the world and the first ever driverless train in Africa.<\/p>\n

The project is impressively modern. <\/strong>From clear signage to accessibility, the monorail system feels like a big leap forward for public transit in Cairo. Though still largely empty, signs, maps, and automated PA announcements at stations make it easy for first-time commuters to figure out where to go and what to do. <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect to find parking outside the stations. <\/strong>We arrived at El Moshir Tantawy Station by car, which is so far the only realistic way to start the journey. We found a small cluster of private vehicles dropping people off and picking people up. We noted roughly six parked cars guarded by an unofficial parking attendant underneath the stairs leading up to the station with very little room for additional cars to park.<\/p>\n

Getting up to the station is simple.<\/strong> Take the stairs, escalator, or elevator up to the main platform, which is squeaky clean and reminiscent of Cairo International Airport when it was new. Once you walk through the guarded doorway and metal detector into the enclosed and air-conditioned section of the station, you can either wait in line to purchase a ticket from a ticket booth or secure one from one of two digital kiosks that were undergoing maintenance at the time of our visit. <\/p>\n

Routes are clearly mapped and labelled, with signage indicating price tiers for tickets depending on the distance covered:<\/strong><\/p>\n