Privately-owned Chinese car making company BYD announced Tuesday plans to build a straddle-beam monorail, or ‘sky rail,’ transit system in Egypt’s second city Alexandria, China’s official press agency Xinhua reports. The company said it inked an agreement on October 21 with Alexandria’s transportation authority to construct a 128-kilometer single rail track. Compared to the current 32-kilometers-long tram system in the city, the monorail would be four times that length. No details of the total value of the project have been revealed yet. However, the carmaker stressed that, compared to an underground subway system, a monorail requires just one-fifth of the building cost and one-third of the construction time. If completed, the monorail in Alexandria will be the first straddle-beam monorail system to be constructed on the African continent. “BYD’s SkyRail is a clean, affordable and safe way for people to commute. It also utilizes limited road space in towns and cities while minimizing disruption to local communities,” said AD Huang, general manager of BYD Middle East and Africa Auto Sales Division. The Chinese carmaker started manufacturing and selling passenger vehicles, in Egypt, 13 years ago. According to Huang Zhixue, general manager of…
Chinese Carmaker to Build Massive Monorail System in Alexandria
October 25, 2017
