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| GE 'Evolution' 2565 is hauling 'Russian' stock as it heads south towards Cairo at Qalyub. 15/02/2026 |
Introduction:
Hot on the heals of January's trip to Bangladesh came the next item on the agenda of possibly 'less desirable' countries to visit - Egypt. This one came with a lot of apprehension - the trains look great, and I had long wanted to visit, but there is one large drawback; Photography of railways is effectively illegal.
There have been several reports of enthusiasts being detained, arrested or just generally having a very tough or unpleasant time. Couple this with a population who many consider to be unpleasant and a road system that is, at best, chaotic and it is easy to see why this trip had been shunted down the list for some years.
In travelling to Egypt we knew all the risks. We had a plan to keep out of trouble as best as we could- keep cameras away at stations and just use phones, don't stay in any one place too long and avoid busy areas. As well as this there were practised techniques to protect our haul- my pictures were written to two memory cards, one of which was backed up to my phone every evening. On my phone as well, a hidden album was created for all of those 'naughty' railway pictures. Making sure we had some photos of our railway work in the UK, and of some general Egypt touristing was also thrown into the mix.
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| EMD JT42 (that's a class 66 to most of us) 1401 speeds south at Qalyub with an Alexandria - Cairo Talgo service, the highest standard of train currently operated in Egypt. 15/02/2026 |
The dates of the trip were fairly fixed- my friend Rob was travelling to Eritrea on railfanning business, flying via Cairo, so the week before would have to work- and fortunately for me it did. The weather at this time of year should be favourable, and I found some good priced flights out with Wizz and back with EasyJet. Where our dates didn't 100% marry up, this would give a solo day for touristing in Cairo.
While the initial plan was to head up into the Nile Delta, and then down the Nile Valley to Aswan overnight, this had to be discounted when we realised quite how long it would take to reach Aswan (and more to the point, how long it would take me to get back for my flight home!). In addition we became aware that most of the trains we wanted to see, with the older locomotives in the ENR fleet were to be found around the Delta in the north of the country following the near complete take over of Nile Valley services by the new GE 'Evolution' ES30MCi's.
Monday 9th February:
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| EMD GT22 3879 fills the street scene having made its call at Fawwah with a service from Al Busayli to Desouk. 11/02/2026 |
An early start got me to Luton and onto my Wizz Air flight to Cairo Sphinx. Despite being airborne before 0800, the length of the flight, and loosing 2 hours meant it was late afternoon by the time I arrived. I had pre-registered for a Visa, and there was little delay at immigration, not that it seem that the visa on arrival queues were particularly arduous. I never expected to see any trains today- though there were some views as we came in to land of the new Egyptian high-speed railway which is currently under construction. The local taxi drivers efforts to get my attention, and my fare, were not rewarded as my pre-booked taxi did finally turn up around 30 minutes late. $20 was the fare to my hotel in downtown Cairo- the Swiss Tahir Tourist Hotel, which despite being 4 floors up within a building with some quite vintage lifts, was a good base for the next couple of days.
Having dropped my bag (hand luggage only on this trip!) I walked the 40 minutes or so to the Khan El-Khalili market to get my first sense of the country. So far, so good- I didn't feel unsafe or particularly like I was being scammed and I really enjoyed visiting the vibrant streets. I took the metro back to the hotel once I had fought my way through the street scene to find the station. Tickets are 8 EGP for up to 9 stations, which works out at around 12p.
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| Henschel 3105 with a local train at Al Badrashein. 10/02/2026 |
Tuesday 10th February:
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| Your author, the pyramids of Giza and a camel! |
Still no trains yet- it was the booked tourism morning and I had made a last minute group booking onto a tour of the Pyramids of Giza (you can't really come here and not see them!). A little more opportunity to be ripped off and to ride a camel (probably at the same time), but at least the transport and logistics were all arranged and I had some fellow tourists to share the experience with. Having finished my time here I already had my eyes on the railway, and asked to be dropped off at Giza Metro station after the tour.
Here I encountered my first issue with Egyptian Railways- actually getting on a train.
I had been recommended the very helpful 'EGY Train' app which would usefully allow me to search for train connections and times, even including local services. I therefore knew that there should be two trains within the next hour which would call at my first spot, El Badrashin. To get into the stations is a bit of a rigmarole, passing through a metal detector and scanner, and then being required to produce a ticket. While I thought it was possible to buy on the train, you have at least got to be able to communicate this or get on the platform.
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| GE 'Evolution' 2499 heads south through Al Badrashin with a southbound express towards Luxor. 10/02/2026 |
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| 'Class 66' 2153 heads south (with the tail lights on!) bound for the Nile Valley as it approaches Al Badrashin. 10/02/2026 |
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| Freight at Al Badrashin as 'Evolution' 2416 passes in fading light with a southbound container train. 10/02/2026 |
As always in these situations, the first flurry of trains was all heading the wrong way, including my first Henschel, 3105, on a short passenger. Other than this, the entire traction I would see here on the line between Cairo and Luxor was GE 'Evolution' locos as well as the occasional EMD JT42 (that's a '66' to you and I). With the light fading fast, I took a 'Russian' train (formed with the new Russian-Hungarian built stock) back towards Giza. The power was, predictably, a GE Genesis #2630, and while I was expecting to have to change trains at the new 'Upper Egypt' station, the train did continue to the main station at Cairo Ramses. I had assumed someone would come round to sell me a ticket on the train since I could not get one at El Badrashin but nobody did. This would come back to cause me issues later!
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| Line up at Cairo Ramses with GT22 3851 and Henschel AT22T 3136 on the blocks. 10/02/2026 |
On arrival at Ramses my first task was to get the loco number- this is more difficult than normal as they are all written in Arabic- so really I needed a picture to confirm and memorise it. Walking to the front of the train this was no problem, and without many staff around I thought it was worth getting a 'proper' picture of the train (on my phone)- I was encouraged to find the driver giving me a friendly wave- a good start. There were several locomotives nearby, and a steady stream of passengers crossing over the track to where a 66 was nicely positioned. So I followed them and got a couple of pictures, walking back down the platform, for I didn't intend to stay long, I was also able to snap a EMD G22, AA22T 'Henschel' and a GE C18-71 on shunt duties. Having had no issues, temptation got the better of me, and in a busier part of the station I couldn't resist photographing a well lit Heschel on a couple of coaches in the middle road- this unfortunately did attract attention (though I suspect I had been seen beforehand) and I was politely told by station security that I could not take photos. I wasn't altogether surprised when the usual 'dumb tourist' apology didn't work. No- I couldn't just walk off, I was to follow the man to the stationmasters office.
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| The only example of the GE C18-71 class seen was 2310 which appeared to be being used as a shunter at Ramses. 10/02/2026. |
Here again, more pleasantries were exchanged, and while it was clear that taking pictures had been a problem, I got the feeling I wasn't going to be in terrible trouble. The staff spoke good English and were friendly. I was to hand over my phone and the stationmaster flicked very quickly through all of the pictures I had just taken. I didn't expect to see them again.
My phone back- now the next problem. What was I doing on the station? Well, I wanted to buy tickets for Alexandria for the following day. But where was my ticket? I wasn't expecting automatic barriers to leave the station... Anyway- a bit of confusion later, several accompanied laps of the station and eventually someone was found who could sell me a ticket to Alexandria... for now! No- that wasn't what I needed! Now that it was understood I needed tickets for *tomorrow* somebody else was sent to accompany me up to the foreigner's ticket office to buy my ticket, before I could finally leave the station, after leaving my new security friend a couple of dollars for his assistance, of course.
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| Henschel 3105 is in one of the centre roads at Cairo Ramses. This is the same stock which I had seen earlier at Al Badrashin, and the last picture I would take before the days photography was curtailed! 10/02/2026 |
It wasn't until I was 'safely' on the metro that I went back to check on my pictures from the station- I did think the chap had gone through them very quickly- and to my amazement they had not been deleted! Time to back those up somewhere! The evening was spent attempting to wander along the Nile (though it is largely separated from public spaces) and look at the Cairo Tower. On the way I found a great local restaurant serving Koshari- Egypt's staple dish consisting of a mix of pasta, rice, lentils and noodles served with a tomato sauce. Given I like all these things it was unsurprisingly a hit, and the whole meal cost less than £1! The Cairo tower however was a disappointment, there isn't really anywhere to get close to it and to go up to the top was 350EGP- only about £6, but it was dark. I couldn't take my camera in, and the drink I had just purchased would have to be confiscated... I'll pass then!
Wednesday 11th February:
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| At Alexandria, JT42 2134 has released from its 'Russian' stock on the blocks. 11/02/2026. |
This morning I was meeting Rob who had flown in overnight. Our first port of call was the Railway Museum next to Ramses station, which, since it opened at opened at 09:00, meant that I actually had time for my hotel breakfast. I think we were virtually the only visitors and we had come with very low expectations, and I have to say, these were exceeded. There isn't much in the way of full size real trains, but there is a good collection of models of locomotives and infrastructure though the 'model railway' looked to have seen better days!- well worth 30 minutes either way.
There wasn't much time to look around Ramses station prior to boarding the 10:00 Express service to Alexandria, which amongst all the kerfuffle, I had booked tickets for the previous night. The train was, as expected, hauled by one of the GE 'Evolution' locos, 2623. The train was one of the 'VIP' class trains formed of stainless steel Chinese/Egyptian stock which was delivered around 10 years ago. The train was comfortable and made the journey in just over 3 hours. On the final approaches to Alexandria there was considerable construction work relating to the 'Alexandria Metro' project, which has replaced the suburban line which formally ran through the city, powered by EMD G22's.
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| What remains of the Raml tramway is very much on borrowed time before the line shuts for modernisation. Kinki Sharyo car 215 is one of the six double-deck trailer cars constructed for the line, and is leading set towards the Raml terminal. 11/02/2026 |
Given the time it was thought best to check into our hotel, the Royal Jewel Al-Raml where we were upgraded to a 'suite with an ocean view'- more importantly the ocean view also meant that the room would have a view of the Raml tramway! This system is one of two tram networks in Alexandria, this one using mostly Kinki Sharyo railcars dating from the 1970's and 80's- it's claim to fame being the six double-deck driving trailer cars which are formed into some sets.
This is a really interesting old tramway, and one I was very pleased to see in operation- in the lead up to the trip I had read that the network was due to close for modernisation just days before our visit- fortunately this was clarified to only be part of the network, and the end at the Raml terminal where we were staying was thankfully still in operation- though this temporary stay of execution is thought to only be for a couple of months.
Our next quest was to pick up our hire car- I had thought that the 'Budget' office located near our hotel was the pick up location- but in reality it turned out to be much further to the east of the city. The obvious way to get there was on the Raml tram- but we had not quite accounted for how slow this would be. This tram system is billed as being the more efficient of the two since it runs on a segregated tramway, but is still delayed at multiple grade crossings- to have any resemblance to a modern, quick and efficient system, that re-build is clearly needed! While the ride did net us some photographs of the double deck cars, it was clearly not going to get us to the car any time soon, so after a short ride it was into an Uber to continue the journey and try to make best of what light remained of the afternoon.
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| GE Evolution 2562 appraoches Kafr El-Dawar with a train to Alexandria. 11/02/2026 |
By the time we had reached our chosen spot at Kafr El-Dawar, which while close to Alexandria, is still an hour away by car, it was already gone 16:00 and we would have, at most, 90 minutes of light left.
As is typical in these situations, a look at the EGY train app revealed that most trains would be going in the 'wrong' direction- however we did get the shot we wanted, all be it with GE Evolution 2562- obviously we would have preferred some older traction. With shadows growing, we moved to a location where we could shoot the southbound trains side-on, and of course as soon as we did a top-and-tail rake came past, which would have given us our desired shot had we stayed put a few more minutes. Such is life! By 17:30 the light was gone and it was time to head back to the city at a reasonable hour.
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| GT22 3816 catches the glint of the setting sun as it accelerates away from Kafr El-Dawar on a top-and-tail set of stock (possibly empty!?) 11/02/2026. |
Back in Alexandria there were a few aims- to photograph the Raml tramway more extensively, to seek out some trams on the 'City' tramway, find dinner with a beer and walk out to the site of the old Alexandria Lighthouse- oh- and plan our moves for the next day. Quite a lot to fit in actually!
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| Another 'Evolution', 2632 heads towards Alexandria and is reflected in one of the many drainage channels as it approaches Kafr El-Dawar. 11/02/2026. |
Dinner was taken at Calithea restaurant on the seafront which ticked off both the food and beer requirements, before embarking on quite a long walk to the Quitbay Citadel. This castle is built on the site/ruins of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Of course being night time the castle itself was closed, but the structure was still impressive.
The plan was to get a City Tram back into town, as one of the routes ran nearby- but unfortunately no trams were seen for the duration of the walk back. The tracks looked as if they had been used, recently, but not that recently. One for the next evening perhaps.
Thursday 12th February:
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| GT22 3626 gets away from Desouk with a service towards Tanta. 12/02/2026 |
The morning began with quite specific aims- there was a shot we had seen on the line between Desouk and Tanta which had two 'improved' trains passing within an hour- Given that most of the local lines in the Nile Delta area have a service around 2-hourly, this is frequent. We had also by now realised that the interesting traction was on these 'improved' trains, and this gave us two bites at the cherry. Both turned up with G22's, but unfortunately, both with the long-hood leading. A nice shot, but not 100% what we wanted.
Now it was time to head north, another long drive, to a shot we had in mind near Rosetta, where the line does a 'fish hook' turning around 200 degrees, meaning we should be able to shoot with sun on the front despite this line being worked push-pull with locos on the north end.
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| GT22 3879 leads a push-pull set south from Al Busayli to Desouk. 12/02/2026 |
There was, however, a distraction on the way. We hadn't realised when planning that our route north would follow the railway between Desouk and Mutubas. As with many railways in these areas, it was difficult to tell if the line was in use- until we overtook a push-pull train on it heading north, which provi ded quite conclusive evidence! The light was no good for this, but if there was a southbound train, we did just have time to capture it, and there were some interesting street scenes through which the railway passed.
A look on the EGY Train app revealed that there was, the search was now on to find a spot in time, and without deviating so much that we missed our next picture!
Unfortunately, the train was late, which meant that inevitably a large cloud which had been approaching got there first, and our first GT22 cab leading was in dull. The train was slow however, so there was no disadvantage to chasing it, and pleasingly two further shots were taken through a promising break in the clouds. Now it was back to 'plan A' and Rosetta.
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| Typical traffic hazards on the rural roads! |
We arrived with a good 10 minutes or so to spare if the train was on time and the earlier cloud had kindly cleared away, but there was an immediate problem. The picture we had seen had needed some height- and it was quickly deducted that it must have been taken from the top of a building. This was, at least now, a private residence so was not exactly easy access in the short time we had. What was more, some 'gardening' would also be needed for the shot we planned. With some interest from locals, it was eventually established that we wanted to get onto the building roof... and amazingly after some persistence, there we stood! The shot had to be slightly re-imagined due to vegetation growth, but, around 20 minutes behind schedule our train could be heard rounding the big curve and into view came GT22 3841 making probably our favourite shot of the trip. Thanks were paid to our hosts and a position quickly found to catch the train, now with the loco pushing, for the return trip.
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| GT22 3841 is seen on the final approach to Rosetta, taken from the roof of a nearby dwelling! 12/02/2026 |
We were surprised to bump into the train again on the drive to our next location, and a few extra shots were achieved of the not unattractive driving trailer against the semaphore signals at Al-Busayli. We then finished our railway exploits for the day at an overbridge we had passed earlier at Damanhour. Unfortunately the clouds finally had beaten us and sunny pictures were no longer available. Our highlight here was a short ballast train led by one of the older 'Evolution' locomotives, with a Henschel on the rear, a class we had still seen very little of in traffic.
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| 3841's push-pull train is seen with the driving trailer leading, passing semaphore signals at Al-Busayli. 12/02/2026. |
Quite tired again, we returned to the same restaurant in Alexandria after I had insisted on a ride on the double decker tram- after all these are finishing soon and Alexandria is one of just three systems in the world to use them in commercial service (the other being Hong Kong and Blackpool... if that latter even still counts!?). I enjoyed the journey, but it was slow, not helped by our tram on the return breaking down mid way back to the Raml terminal!
We also caught sight of the Alexandria 'Heritage' tram, which I didn't realise was still running, and saw one tram take the connection onto the 'City' network. We enquired if any more would go this way, but unfortunately not. It was a toss up between a beer at the 'Spitfire' bar just across the road, or searching for City trams. Since the network seemed to have so little activity we opted for the beer.
Friday 13th February:
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| GT22 3855 disturbs the peace as it gets underway from Mahallat Rawh with a train for Tanta. 13/02/2026. |
Back on the road, and leaving Alexandria for the final time without too much of a plan other than to track down some Henschel's in the Tanta Area. We first stopped off at the bridge from the previous night at Damanhour, catching two southbound trains, both with 'Evolution' traction, before setting up at our first, fairly unremarkable spot, south of Tanta. We didn't actually see any trains here, because I came up with a better plan to catch an 'Improved' train on the line towards Mit Ghamr where we knew that JT22's had been reported. It was a lovely spot, and the sun was shining brightly despite looming clouds. However the train didn't appear. Eventually the problem was established- it didn't run on Fridays.
Back to the drawing board there were some trains on the line to Mahallat Rawh which actually were running, and here we found a lovely array of semaphore signals to set the scene. Unfortunately the light had worsened considerable for the for the two GT22 departures we saw, and a freight (going the wrong way) headed by a Henschel.
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| GE 'Evolution' 2619 passes the outskirts of Damanhour as it heads south towards Cairo. 14/02/2026. |
Despite having had our Semaphore fix, we stuck to our original plan for the afternoon to head to Menouf, which we knew to be another location filled with traditional signalling. There was a gap in trains, allowing us a break from the dreadful local roads for a nice, very local, lunch- once we had found a restaurant to whom we could communicate that we wanted food!
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| Henschel AT22T 3107 arrives at Menouf with a service from Shibin Al Kawm. 13/02/2026 |
Menouf is one of those locations that sits dormant for a few hours, and then comes alive with trains from all directions. We didn't have to wait long for our first, and finally a passenger with a Henschel in charge! We were wary of attracting attention by standing too near to the signal box, but needn't have worried as the only unwanted attention we received was from a group of about 5 kids. They started off nice enough, but soon became the most annoying people we had come across on the trip, begging for dollars and eventually trying to threaten us with pieces of ballast. Once our shots here were done it was good to get further away from the station area. A couple more arrivals, all with Henschels until the very last, which arrived with what we *really* wanted to see, one of the triple windowed EMD JT22MC's (similar in cab design to the Irish 071 or Yugoslav 666). It wasn't the light we wanted to catch one in- but at least we had seen one. We even dared to visit the station platforms for a couple of pictures of the loco running around its train in the weird sandy low light (on phones, as per our rules).
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| Henschel 3091 approaches Menouf from the direction of Banha. 13/02/2026. |
Now it was time to get back to Cairo and de-hire the car. Driving along the motorway it was very apparent just how dusty the air was and how we had lost the light for the afternoon. The last 5 miles or so of traffic can only be described as 'awful' with the busy road being stop-start and full of Egyptian hazards; vehicles going the wrong way, motorbikes weaving around the road and even road sweepers just standing with their wheelie bins by the central reservation. It was with some pride that we dropped the car off scratch-free!
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| Our first JT22, 3450 stands at Menouf having run around its train to Shibin Al Kawm. 13/02/2026. |
This was my final night in Egypt, and this time we stayed at the Mar Charbel, again close to the centre of Cairo, while Rob was staying another night before his flight onward to Eirtrea! I was keen that he saw the old market at Khan El-Khalili so we headed there, again enjoying an 'Egyptian pancake' for dinner and planning our moves for our final train day.
Saturday 14th February:
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| A very clean JT22 3453 departs from Qalyub with a service from the Zagazig line. 14/02/2026. |
Keen to have breakfast, and noting previous stresses of travelling by train, we revised our plan to get an Uber out to our first location, near the station of Qalyub to the north of the city. Despite having to navigate for the driver, a nice chap who spoke good English and temporarily away from his current home in South Africa, the taxi move saved us about an hour getting into position. To get to our planned spot involved crossing the railway, and we were both keen on the view from the footbridge. By this point, having had the best part of a week with no bother at all from security, we had mellowed on our stance somewhat and spent the best part of an hour happily photographing the variety of trains from this bridge. Some luck also came to us in the first train to meet our lenses being hauled by one of the JT22's- finally a nice sunny shot of this somewhat elusive class (but still no sunny Henschel!). I also caught the familiar frame of an EMD JT42 (class 66) #1401 hauling one of the new Talgo sets, the highest quality trains now running in Egypt.
We moved into our planned field when there was a gap in trains, and finally got our Henschel. There were so many GE 'Evoloution' hauled trains here that we even took to attempting pan shots with some of them. It had been an excellent morning...
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| Henschel 3105 with 'Improved' train 124 from Tanta to Cairo seen near Qalyub. 14/02/2026 |
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| Street food for lunch after our run in with the authorities at Qalyub. |
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| Henschel 3093 has just departed from Qalyub taking the long route to Tanta via Manouf. 14/02/2026. |
Clearly continuing at this location was now off the cards (the light was getting too head on anyway), but we would also have to be very cautious on the branches radiating from Qalyub where we had planned to spend the afternoon. We re-grouped over some fresh falafel from a street stall (very nice) and headed on onto the branch to Shibin Al-Qanatir and Zalazig. I was sure the train we were after was scheduled today, but some 20 minutes after it was due, a look on the App revealed the next train of that number to be the following day. Walking back from the spot, as we had no desire to hang around conspicuously, or within sight of the level crossing, a train was heard... surely- had itcome afterall and we had missed it? Does the App updated to the following days schedule after the booked time of the train? We would never 100% know, but it was a bit of a blow to start off the afternoon.
Onto the other branch, towards Manuf, where we had been yesterday, there were several trains, but not many locations as the line was quite built up and adjacent to a main road. We didn't want to stand anywhere too public, but managed a nice shot from behind some buildings- and finally a good close up view of a well lit Henschel!
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| Our final lineside picture with JT22 3458 approaching Qalyub from the Zagazig line. The horse cart was well timed to compliment the scene. 14/02/2026. |
Back to our original branch, we were determined to see the next train here before calling a day on our activities. Another Henschel was what we really wanted, but it was a JT22 that ultimately turned up- a few hours ago we would have been longing for one of these, and in truth it was still a very nice picture and way to finish up the trip.
I wanted the last journey into Cairo to be by rail, as we had travelled on so few trains, so after walking back to the station we purchased tickets to Cairo for the next service. This ticket office clearly wasn't set up to sell 'foreigner' fares, so we were charged the local rate without question, which was about 10 Egyptian pounds- around 7p. The train came in behind another JT22 and we were gestured on board. It paused in a lovely sunny position for a photo, and since we would need a record of the Arabic number to identify it, we both dared to take a quick picture of the train before boarding on our phones since this would be easier than with it on the blocks at Cairo. This turned out to be a mistake!
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| Causing more trouble than it was worth, my picture 'of the driver' of JT22 3469 at Qalyub before heading to Cairo. 14/02/2026 |
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| A short top-and-tail rake of coaches with GT22 power accelerates away from Kafr El-Dawar. 11/02/2026. |
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| Khan El-Khalili market, Cairo. |
I now just needed to get to the airport and back to the UK, leaving Rob for his final night.
Even getting into an Uber was a bit of a pain, since they don't appear to be able to stop outside the station, and of course numberplates are all in Arabic. Eventually I managed to track the car down in the middle of the road and finally felt at ease that I would get to the airport in good time. Then we sat in almost stand still traffic for about 30 minutes while the driver kept trying to tell me in broken English that there was an 'extra' charge of 50 Egyptian Pounds. Having just given my spare currency to Rob, this was an issue I would have to deal with later! Getting out of the city onto the motorway was a good feeling- even if we did reverse back down the fast lane after missing a turning! The driver begrudgingly accepted $5 for his 'extra' fee and I had made it. Back to Cairo Sphinx Airport. The ridiculous airport security; three full body pat-downs, three swabs for explosives and a search of my entire hand luggage could warrant a post in itself, so I will spare you that. The day had been hard work and I was glad to finally be boarding the EasyJet plane that would take me back home.
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| GT22 3841 powers past the Fixed distant signal for Rosetta as it pushes its train bound for the Alexandria suburbs. 12/02/2026. |
Conclusions:
If it wasn't for the security issues, Egypt would be a fantastic country to visit for trains. Even with the influx of new traction, there are plenty of attractive older classes to be seen, and lots of ancient infrastructure on which to photograph them.
Even with the difficulties, and in spite of the warnings, we had a very enjoyable week. The trip had intentionally been a short one as we really weren't sure how much fun it would be- but with hindsight several more days would have been very worthwhile. The vast majority of the people we had interactions with were pleasant, and the majority of our time by the lineside was trouble free.
Traveling at this time of year meant slightly shorter, more sociable days, and pleasant temperatures which made everything far more tolerable. Planning can be hard work as town names appear either in Arabic or in various different English spellings, leaving the user unsure what name to search for in journey planners. For planning pictures, of course, the lack of Google street view is very unhelpful, but clear stretches of line can usually be found- especially if travelling by car. The trams in Alexandria were a bonus too- and while it was disappointing not to see any of the City trams, it was a big tick in the box to catch the double-deck cars of the Raml tramway, something which was far from guaranteed - if you want to see these, get booking your flight immediately!
Would I go back? Yes- absolutely!
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| Kinki Sharyo double-deck car 209 lines up with one of its single deck classmates at the Raml Terminal in Alexandria. These vehicles, and the line, were expected to last only a few more months in service. 11/02/2026. |
