Egypt railway head sacked after string of train crashes

The head of Egypt's railway authority has been removed from office following a series of train accidents, the transport ministry said today.

The statement announcing Sayed Salem's sacking came just hours after a train came off the rails on the Cairo-Aswan line, injuring a number of passengers and delaying trips.

Transport Minister Hisham Arafat appointed Ashran Mohammed Raslan as the new head of Egypt's National Railway Authority, the ministry said in a statement posted on Facebook.

The statement did not explain why Salem was relieved of his post.

Egypt's railways, some of the oldest in the world, are in desperate need of maintenance and development -- especially after a series of train accidents.

Some 60 people were injured on July 13 when a train derailed in the Badrashin area of Giza province, west of Cairo.

In February, at least 12 people were killed and dozens of others injured when a freight train collided with a passenger train in the northern province of Behaira.

Salem was appointed to the position shortly after an August 2017 collision forced his predecessor to resign.

That crash, on the Cairo-Alexandria mainline, killed at least 41 people and injured scores of others.