Alexandria, the Egyptian metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea, is one of the pioneers in the use of battery electric buses on the African continent. The city’s public transport operator put a series of 15 electric buses from Chinese manufacturer BYD into service back in 2018, which have since been used on Line 2, which runs along the bay in the city centre, among other routes. There is a terminus near the fortress. The first generation of batteries in the buses are gradually being replaced and exchanged.
In the meantime, the procurement of further new-generation electric buses has been initiated so that additional city bus routes can be electrified. Domestic manufacturers such as MCV could also come into play here.
The urban tram network in Alexandria and the Ramleh suburban railway, which is connected to the tram network, have always been electrified. The construction of a first metro line was also put out to tender and awarded to an Egyptian consortium under the leadership of Orascom Group which is is building Cairo’s new monorail lines, too. This metro line will partly use the existing but little-used railway infrastructure, but will otherwise operate along a longer, newly constructed elevated sections. With a length of 21 kilometres and 20 stops, it will run from the central Misr station north-east to Abu-Qir. We already reported about that project here: https://www.urban-transport-magazine.com/en/three-projects-to-improve-public-transport-in-cairo-and-alexandria/.
