Technical visit of an Egyptian delegation to Paris

In the framework of a Technical Cooperation between the Egyptian Ministry of Transport, AFD and CODATU, a technical visit was organized in Paris from 20 to 23 June and gathered several Egyptian executives from the National Authority for Tunnels, the Egyptian Company for Metro operation and the Egyptian Ministry of Transport.

Several major urban transport projects are currently underway in Egypt, including the modernisation of existing metro lines, the construction of new metro and tramway lines to relieve the existing network and extend it to new central areas such as the “new capital”, a new city located several dozen kilometres from the city centre.

In this context, the objective of the technical visit was to meet with institutions in charge of project management for urban rail transport in order to identify the competences of these institutions, their functioning and financing, and their evolution in terms of human resources and more generally to address the issue of change management. On this point, the example of the Société du Grand Paris and the evolution of its organisation is emblematic, and the meeting with GART provided an overview of the role of the Autorités Organisatrices de la Mobilité in France.

The members of the delegation also wanted to receive feedback on the issue of reducing the operating and maintenance costs of rail transport networks. On this point, the meetings with Transdev, Keolis and RATP were particularly enriching. In addition to the presentation of concrete tools and international examples, the discussions with these transport operators also highlighted the central role of internal training, as well as the growing importance – and the need to encourage it – of the role of women in the operation of public transport networks.