A crane was deployed to lift a derailed train at the scene of a railroad accident in the city of Qalyub, Qalyub province, in Egypt’s Nile Delta region north of the capital on March 7, 2023 (photo by Khaled Desouki/AFP). Two people were killed and several others injured Tuesday in the train accident, the health ministry said. The ministry’s statement reported “two dead in the train accident at Qalyub, while the injured are in a stable condition.” An earlier toll listed one death and 16 injured, including six who had already been treated and released.
The incident occurred in Qalyub, just north of Cairo, when a passenger train entering Qalyub station passed a stop signal. Egypt’s national rail authority said this caused the locomotive and the first carriage to derail. Pictures from the scene showed first responders converging on rail cars that were still upright behind a high wall in a built‑up area. Police formed a perimeter to keep crowds away from the wreckage. A crane was later brought in to lift a partially crumpled derailed car.
Egyptian rail accidents are often blamed on poor infrastructure and maintenance. In April 2021, Transport Minister Kamel el‑Wazir fired the rail authority’s head, Ashraf Raslan, after an uproar over mismanagement of dilapidated train lines. The dismissal followed a deadly accident that claimed 23 lives and was part of a reshuffle of ten top railway officials. The transport ministry said the changes were aimed at a “complete upgrade of the railway network” to provide better services for millions of passengers each year.
In March 2021, at least 20 people died and nearly 200 were injured in a train crash in southern Egypt. The prosecution later alleged that the driver of the speeding train and his assistant had left the cabin before the collision, and that the assistant on the second, stationary train had used cannabis and the painkiller tramadol, as had a track signalman. Wazir, a former general, became transport minister after a 2019 train collision blamed on human error. He acknowledged a “problem with the human element” and pledged to establish an automated network by 2024.
President Abdel Fattah al‑Sisi has vowed to hold those responsible for the recurrent deadly railway accidents accountable. One of the deadliest incidents occurred in 2002, when a fire ripped through a crowded train south of the capital, killing 373 people. Egypt’s roads also see regular deadly accidents, often due to poor maintenance and flouting of driving rules.
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