A lot has changed since the early 1800s, but one thing that remains is the might of the train. That’s not to say trains haven’t changed at all in 200 years; in fact, railways are still being upgraded all the time to become more efficient, speedy and to reach more destinations.
High-speed railways are fairly common in Europe and Asia – in fact, Europe is currently trying to make every major city reachable via superfast railways – but Africa is catching up.
In 2018, Egypt announced plans to connect the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea through a super-fast, 2000-kilometre high-speed rail network. It said that more than 10 different companies from across the world were consulting on the project and helping turn it into a reality. This is the biggest upgrade to the nation’s railway system in over 60 years.
As well as connecting big cities with more rural areas, which have traditionally been cut off, the network will slash travel times and increase the country’s freight capacity by 46 percent. At top speed, trains will travel at 250 kilometres per hour.
Work has been progressing, but huge projects like these take time. The network will consist of three lines, the first of which runs from Ain Sokhna, a coastal town at the northern tip of the Red Sea, to Marsa Matrouh on the Mediterranean. In September, the government announced that this stage is more than halfway done, and that upon opening, it will become ‘a pillar for urban, industrial, and tourism development’.
On November 9 of this year, developers revealed images of the train carriages that will be on the network when it launches. The locomotives have been specially designed to withstand the harsh desert conditions that they will have to travel through; Egypt’s deputy prime minister for transport and industry, Kamel El-Wazir, said that the new models will ‘redefine passenger experience’.
The second and third legs will begin once the first is completed. There are no set dates for launch yet, but officials are hopeful that at least part of the network will be operational by 2030.
There is only one high-speed railway in Africa, connecting Tangier and Casablanca in Morocco. Egypt could become the second country on the continent to build such infrastructure, but it’ll have to beat Nigeria, which is also investing in a high-speed network.
These are 13 of the most exciting new train routes launching in 2026.
Two festive vintage trains will take you to Europe’s best Christmas markets this season.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out Travel newsletter for all the latest travel news and best stuff happening across the world.