Train woes

[Goddess]

Train commuters complain of high prices, deteriorating services

By Asmaa El Gammal
First Published: April 27, 2009



CAIRO

At any given time during the day, there is a crowd of people huddled around the information booth standing halfway between the entrance to Ramses Station and the ticket counters on the other end. Students clutching notebooks, businessmen holding briefcases and travelers dragging and rolling an assortment of various-sized luggage all stretch their necks across the crowd to inquire about departure times and platform numbers.

In the absence of a notification board, the employee manning the booth is accustomed to answering the same questions over and over again. Staring straight ahead, he silently points to the information scribbled on pieces of paper plastered haphazardly on the inside of the glass cubicle. One by one, the travelers squeeze out of the crowd to make their way to the platform, and to what many frequent travelers on the Egyptian railways consider a long and uncomfortable ride.

While trains are considered by many to be one of the safest modes of transportation in Egypt, there have been mounting complaints by commuters that rising ticket costs often come with deteriorating services, including schedule delays, non-functioning air conditioners and unclean trains.

Price vs. service

“I pay to be comfortable, but there are no services,” said Suzan Wahby, a journalist at Al-Ahram newspaper and a daily commuter between Tanta and Cairo for the past 15 years. Wahby, who travels first class, says she has seen conditions go from bad to worse. “First class is supposed to be comfortable, but it is worse than you can imagine.”

According to a ticket salesman, April marked several schedule changes and an increase in ticket prices. A first class ticket on the Cairo-Tanta route now costs LE 25, up from LE 18, while a first class ticket on the Cairo-Alexandria train has gone from LE 46 to LE 50.

Commuters like Wahby, however, are subscribed to a yearly membership, and pay only an additional LE 4 every time they travel. The additional charges are meant to account for the air conditioner.

For Wahby, two-hour delays are not uncommon, while a 15-45 minute delay has become the norm. Trains usually leave the station after the scheduled time and slow down or stop along the way. Often, passengers look out the scratched windows to find that the train has stopped inexplicably in the midst of a field.

This is especially cumbersome for travelers on tight schedules. “People have appointments to keep and businesses and conferences to attend to,” Wahby said, adding that she once witnessed a man yelling and screaming on the train because a two-hour delay prevented him from seeing his brother before he emigrated.

Meanwhile, such inconveniences are exacerbated by uncomfortable rides. In the summertime, passenger cars can be suffocating in the absence of a functioning air conditioner. The bathrooms are uninviting, the seats often dirty, the curtains stained with age, the metal surrounding the windows rusty and the glass occasionally cracked.

Locomotive shortage

Departure delays have been attributed to a shortage of locomotives required to drive the trains out of the station. Though the Ministry of Transport has recently purchased 120 new locomotives, among which 80 were bought with a contribution from Qatar and Libya, there have been allegations since the first batch arrived in January that they do not conform to safety standards and specifications.

In March, the public prosecution started investigating complaints by drivers that the locomotives were 30 cm taller and considerably heavier than the old ones, which ran the risk of accidents while traveling across bridges. They also complained that there were no doors, which posed a danger for the driver in case of a fire.

However, railway and ministry officials emphasized that the locomotives were compliant with safety standards and that their weight and height did not pose a safety hazard in relation to the bridges. In a statement to the local press on April 13, Said Soliman, vice president of the Egyptian Railways, said 45 of the new locomotives have already started working and the rest were being prepared.

Nevertheless, schedule delays continue, albeit to a lesser extent.

Starting in April, there have been trains to Tanta every half hour. However, according to Dalia Bayoumy, who has been commuting between Tanta and Cairo for the past 10 years, these trains are not always on time. “How can they increase the frequency of trains they don’t have enough locomotives for?” she said.

But what irks travelers more than the delay is the lack of notice. Bayoumy once waited on the platform from 4 to 6 pm without being notified of the extent of the delay. Even schedule boards that existed years ago are no longer there. “They don’t bother to tell us anything, at least so we can figure out alternative transportation. There’s no respect for our humanity, not even a ‘sorry for the delay.’”

Over the years, both Wahby and Bayoumy have submitted numerous complaints, sometimes signed by all the passengers in their train car, but to no avail.

“Now, people are passive, because they know that no matter what you do, nothing will change. Your voice doesn’t reach the person responsible,” Bayoumy said. “We, as Egyptians, have been able to adapt. But what about the foreigners?”

The suggestion that Egyptians have grown to expect poor services is echoed by Shaimaa Mahmoud, a freshman at Cairo University who commutes from her Tanta hometown twice a week. Though Mahmoud has experienced the occasional 15 minute delay and non-functional air conditioner, she is not unsatisfied by the service. “It’s good... for Egypt,” she said.

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