The third Cairo metro line is due to resume operation on Monday after a train crash into the buffer stops at Abbaseya metro station on Sunday.
The third line metro workers started a strike on Monday protesting against the driver’s referral to legal investigation.
Aly Fadaly, Head of the Cairo Metro Company, said during a phone call to a private TV channel on Sunday, that the line will resume working on Monday. As the train is currently stuck, and the towing cars are moving the affected parts outside of the station, Fadaly added this caused all train movements on the third line to come to a halt, and that “there is no link between the train halt and the workers strike”.
One of the striking workers told Daily News Egypt: “If the train had a technical problem it should have appeared in the driver’s cabin in advance, but nothing showed any problems with the brakes.”
The metro train crashed with buffer stops Sunday on the line, causing the train to derail causing the driver to sustain injuries, a metro spokesperson said. The driver is now in the Intensive Care Unit of Ain Shams Specialised Hospital for treatment.
The metro spokesperson added that the first and second cars, which were affected by the incident, have been divided into smaller parts since the accident, for their easier removal from the station.
The cabinet has agreed to sign a contract with theFrench Corporate Federation to begin expanded work on Egypt’s third Metro line, in November which is estimated to cost of EGP 141.187m.
The new line is set to extend to broader parts of the city including further parts of Heliopolis, and eventually to the Cairo International Airport.
Sunday’s accident is not the first of its kind. In January, the doors looking onto the rails, rather than the platform, were mistakenly opened in the Abdo Pasha metro station, however no injuries were reported. When the workers were asked about the reason of the accident, they said they were facing technical problems with the entire line.
