Cairo-Alexandria — the first railway in Africa, 170 years old this year.

What you are looking at

The Cairo-Alexandria line is the original spine of the Egyptian railway network and one of the oldest functioning railways in the world. The first section — Alexandria to Kafr el-Zayyat, 65 kilometres — opened in 1854 under the engineering supervision of Robert Stephenson, son of the more famous George Stephenson of Stockton-Darlington. The Kafr el-Zayyat to Cairo extension followed in 1856, giving Egypt 208 kilometres of continuous standard-gauge track and making the Cairo-Alexandria line the first railway built in Africa and the first railway built anywhere outside Europe and North America. The line has operated continuously since.

The current passenger service has three tiers. The eight daily "Spanish" express services use Talgo rolling stock acquired under a 2022 contract with Patentes Talgo of Madrid; full Talgo deployment began in February 2024 and the run-time between Misr Station Cairo and Misr Station Alexandria is now 2 hours 32 minutes, down from 2 hours 50 on the older Hungarian rolling stock. The "first-class express" services use the older Hungarian-built stock at 3 hours 5 minutes; these are scheduled to be phased out by mid-2027. The standard stopping pattern runs hourly throughout the day, calling at all main-line stations between the two end points: Benha, Tanta, Damanhur, Kafr el-Zayyat, Sidi Gaber and Alexandria Misr. The stopper takes 3 hours 50 minutes.

The line's rolling-stock history is itself a story. The original 1856 service used British-built locomotives (Stephenson 0-6-0 designs) and timber carriages. The first major modernisation came in the 1930s with the introduction of Egyptian-assembled steam locomotives. Diesel operation arrived in the 1960s with the Soviet-built series. The Hungarian-built carriages now being phased out arrived in 1981–1985 under a Comecon-era contract. The Talgo Spanish service is the first western-European passenger rolling stock on Egyptian standard-gauge track since the 1920s.

On the ground

Fare structure (verified 7 June 2026): Spanish-class Cairo-Alexandria single EGP 320; first-class express single EGP 240; standard stopping-pattern second class EGP 95. Tickets are sold up to 7 days in advance; same-day tickets are available at the station window if seats remain. The Spanish service runs at near-full capacity on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings (the Egyptian weekend pattern); the Hungarian first-class express has good availability year-round.

From our Tanta desk to Misr Station Cairo: the standard stopping pattern takes 1 hour 35 minutes; the Spanish express does not stop at Tanta (the express schedule is Cairo-Alexandria non-stop with the Tanta and Damanhur stops only on the older Hungarian first-class). The Tanta to Cairo journey on the Hungarian first-class adds 12 minutes per trip but is the easiest editorial-cycle commute. Subscribers visiting our Tanta office typically arrive from Cairo on the 09:25 stopping service, reaching Tanta at 10:35.

Best stations to board: Misr Station Cairo for any train (the originating station for all express services); Alexandria Misr Station (the originating station for the Alexandria-Cairo direction); Tanta junction for the Hungarian first-class and all stopping services. Stopping-pattern boardings at intermediate Delta stations (Benha, Damanhur, Kafr el-Zayyat) work but the ticket-office hours at smaller stations are restricted and the online booking platform sometimes shows reduced availability.

Reading list

• Bishara, A. 150 Years of the Cairo-Alexandria Railway. AUC Press, 2006. Standard architectural-history reference.
• Tantawi, Y. The Talgo Spanish Transition 2022–2024. Sikka Press subscriber monograph, 2025.
• British National Archives, FO 78/2237. Original concession correspondence, Stephenson 1851. Accessed via Whitebridge cross-references.
• Sikka Press field notebooks 2016–2026, "CA" tag.