CAIRO, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Egypt should have paralleled private railway companies to ensure a better and safer railway system amid growing human losses caused by frequent train accidents, an Egyptian transportation expert said on Friday.
"The government should work in cooperation with the private sector to establish a new railway system in light of the numerous train accidents," Head of Egyptian Transport Association (ETA) Mohammed Shehata told Xinhua.
On Wednesday, a train collision killed at least 12 people in the Beheira province north of the capital Cairo.
Following the accident, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered the formation of a technical committee to examine all locomotives and railways in the country.
He added that the new committee would halt those unqualified lines until they receive maintenance and become safer.
Sisi also said that Egypt needs from 200 to 250 billion Egyptian pounds (up to 14 billion U.S. dollars) to establish proper railways, adding that this amount of money is not available.
"Unfortunately, train accidents in Egypt almost happen on a daily basis," Shehata said, blaming the country's railway authority for not doing enough to improve its services, equipment and infrastructure.
"The government has allocated billions of Egyptian pounds to develop the railway system, but the railway authority is reluctant in the improvement process," he pointed out.
The expert, whose NGO monitors and issues reports on the transportation systems in the North African country, said Egypt should get rid of its old trains and replace them with new electric ones.
Meanwhile, Shehata urged the government to cooperate with China, which is a leading country in railway building, stressing that China has proved to be Egypt's most serious partner in developing the Arab country's railway infrastructure.
"China has offered to finance and establish an electric train that will connect the Cairo with the new administrative capital, east of Cairo," he said.
China has also offered to build the electric train line from Cairo to Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the Borg al-Arab railway and more, he pointed out.
"This proves that China is more serious than other investors to develop Egypt's railways," Shehata stressed.
The ETA chief pointed that cooperation between Egypt and China is based on win-win partnership, adding that Chinese development of Egyptian railways will also boost the Road and Belt Initiative which engages Egypt as a route country.
Egypt witnessed a number of deadly train accidents over the past few years in which hundreds were killed and wounded.
Last August, two trains collided in the coastal province of Alexandria north of Cairo, leaving at least 49 people dead and more than 100 injured.
The worst train accident in Egypt took place at Giza's district of Ayyat in 2002, which killed 350 passengers when fire broke out in a train coming from Upper Egypt, forcing passengers to hopelessly jump out to survive.
Another train tragedy hit the country in November 2012 when a train hit a school bus at a crossing barrier area in Upper Egypt's Assiut province, killing over 50 children.
