Cairo Metro Line 3

Cairo Metro Line 3 is a main line of the Cairo Metro mass transit system in Greater Cairo, Egypt.

Currently, the line connects Attaba in east-central Cairo with El-Shams Club to the northeast. The line will eventually extend from the northwest of the Greater Cairo area at Imbaba to the northeast serving Cairo International Airport. The line will cross the River Nile twice at the western branch between Kit Kat and Zamalek and the eastern branch between Zamalek and downtown Cairo. The total length of the line will be approximately 30.6 km of which 28.1 km is an underground section and the rest of the line about 2.5 km shall be on grade and will be implemented in four phases. The project includes a main workshop adjacent to the western terminal of the line and a light repair workshop at the middle of the line at Abbassia station. The line will use trains manufactured in Japan by Kinki Sharyo Co. and Toshiba Corp. When construction began, residents of the historic island of Zamalek suspected a botched and corrupt feasibility study, and were concerned the heritage and embassy buildings of the neighbourhood would be at risk of collapse. A complaint was filed to the European Investment Bank, in whose interest it was to finance the project in order to profit French companies Bouygues, Thales and Vinci , in a clear conflict of interests, who unilaterally dismissed the residents’ concerns as unfounded. Their fears were nevertheless confirmed on 26 July 2020, when the buildings around one of the construction sites began to subside and had to be evacuated immediately. Included in these buildings at immediate risk are the Bahraini, Algerian, and Spanish embassies. This incident had been anticipated by the community following the news of a 10-meter deep sinkhole swallowing a whole street during the very first phase of construction, as early as 2009.

Construction

Construction began in 2006, with the first section opening on February 21, 2012. The line is planned to compromise of 39 stations, 26 tunnel stations, 11 elevated stations and 2 at-grade stations. The whole line (except for the Heliopolis Square-Cairo International Airport branch) is set to be completed by November 2022.

The implementation of Line No. 3 started with the Attaba to Abbasia section, the first phase, followed by the second phase from Abbasia to Heliopolis, which are the most urgent sections for the transportation needs. The design of phase 1 is taking into consideration the safe crossing of two major underground structures; namely, the line 2 bored tunnel at Attaba and the wastewater spine tunnel north of Attaba. It is also planned that some of the underground stations will be extensively used as commercial centres. These stations will be constructed by the cut-and-cover method and the rolling stock will be fed by power through a third rail. Orascom Construction Industries won the tender for 1 billion EGP for the construction of the first phase of the project. The line has trains supplied by a joint venture of Kinki Sharyo and Toshiba and a contactless fare collection system and integrated supervision and communication system supplied by the Thales Group. France provided a 280 million dollar loan for the second phase of the project to French companies involved in the project.

Phase 1 was opened on 21 February 2012 which ran from Attaba Station to Abbassia Station. This first phase includes five underground stations (Attaba, Bab El Shaaria, El Geish, Abdou Pasha and Abbassia) and serves the eastern part of Cairo from the city centre. 3,500 people, including 85 expatriate staff, worked on this project, which took 51 months to complete. The project was built by a consortium, led by VINCI Construction Grands Projets, comprising Bouygues Travaux Publics, Orascom and Arab Contractors. The first phase cost a total of 4.2 billion LE ($700 million) and will transport between 250,000 and 300,000 passengers per day. Phase 1 civil engineering contract covered construction of a 4.3 km tunnel section and five stations. Meanwhile, VINCI subsidiary ETF-Eurovia Travaux Ferroviaires led the consortium responsible for the track works package. This included the supply and laying of 11 km of track and the power rail in the tunnel. In September 2009, work on the phase 1 was delayed after a landslide hit the construction site on Al-Gueich Street.

Phase 2 was opened on 7 May 2014, and led by consortium with VINCI, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Orascom and Arab Contractors which is 7.2 km tunnel. Construction work on Phase 2 began in mid-2009 and it runs from Abbassiya Station till Al Ahram Station in Heliopolis, with five stations to be constructed, Fair Zone, Cairo Stadium, Koleyet El Banat, Al Ahram and Haroun. The costs of this phase about (498M€) and was financed by French Development Agency(44M€), French ministry of finance (RÉSERVE PAYS EMERGENTS) (200M€) and Government of Egypt (1.5 billion EGP) with French Fund for Global Environment (1M€) grant. This phase was set to be completed at October 2013. However, it was pushed back to April 2014 as stated by the minister of transportation.

Phase 3-1 was set to begin in 2011 but was delayed due to the recent uprising in Egypt. Cairo metro line 3 Construction started in September 2017. and led by consortium with Orascom and Arab Contractors as main Cintractors for the project. also, the metro has Post tension work .This is the western branch of Line 3, this phase will connect Attaba Station with the already existing Gamal Abdel Nasser Station through 26th of July Street, it will then continue on its way onto northern of Maspero (New Station) and run under both branches of the Nile passing through Zamalek island at Zamalek Station and ending at Kit Kat Station under the Kit Kat Square. This stage is set for a completion date of December 2021.

Phase 3-2 will be starting from Kit Kat Station heading towards Sudan Street (new station) then towards Imbaba to the cross point of 6 October West Wing highway (under construction) and Alexandria freight railway then ends at Rod Al-Farag Corridor Station and will have 6 new stations. This stage is set for a completion date of June 2022.

Phase 3-3 will be starting from Kit Kat Station heading towards Al Tawfikiya (new station) passing through Mohandessin (Wadi Al-Nile Station, Gamaet Al-Dowal Station) then heading to Bulak Al-Dakror Station to the Cairo University Station of Line 2 where Line 2 and Line 3 will be connected to each other. This stage is set for a completion date of November 2022.

Phase 4-1 Is the first stage of the final phase in Line 3 which started at 2015 with a plan for it to continue where it originally left off on the Eastern side of the line completing its path towards El-Nozha. It starts from Haroun Street and passes through Heliopolis Square and ends at Ain Shams District. It will have 4 tunnel stations: Haroun Station, Heliopolis Square Station, Alf Masken Station, El-Shams Club Station. With the exception of Heliopolis Square station, this phase opened on June 15, 2019. Heliopolis Square station opened on 22 October 2019.

Phase 4-2 Will start from El-Nozha passing through Qobaa on Gesr Al-Suez Street then towards Hikestep district and ends at Adly Mansour Station in El-Salam City (near El-Asher Bus Stop). It will have 6 elevated stations. This stage is set for a completion date of 2019.

Phase 4-3 Will start from Heliopolis Square Station passing through Al-Hegaz Square and Military Academy area to Sheraton District then ends at Cairo International Airport. It will have 5 tunnel stations. Construction has yet to start for this stage and it doesn't have a completion date as of yet.

Connections

The third line is still under construction. As of October 2019, it operates from Ahram to El-Shams Club.

To other Metro lines

Line 3 connects to Line 2 at Attaba Station. It is planned to connect with Line 1 at Nasser Station when Phase 3-1 is completed in December 2021.

To other forms of transit

Cairo metro Line 3 riders can access Egyptian National Railways long-haul and short-haul domestic passenger service via transfer to Line 2 and debarkation at Shohadaa Station near Ramses Station. Cairo Transport Authority buses and private microbus services are also nearby.

Access to Cairo International Airport is planned upon completion of Phase 4-3 (no completion date yet).

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Cairo Metro Line 3" and modified on August 18, 2020 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.