Business
Alstom : Derby-built monorail enters commercial service in Cairo
Alstom : Derby-built monorail enters commercial service in
About this update from Alstom Sa
UK's first rolling stock export in nearly two decades welcomes first passengers in Egypt 6 May 2026 - Earlier this morning, the Cairo Monorail began carrying passengers with trains assembled and tested at Alstom's Derby Litchurch Lane Works. It is the first time a British factory has exported rolling stock since 2008, when Derby last put trains on a ship, bound for the Gautrain rail network in South Africa's Gauteng province. The trains are part of a £2.3 billion contract to construct and operate Egypt's new monorail network, backed by UK Export Finance, with one of the largest amounts of financing provided for an overseas infrastructure project in the export credit agency's history. The contract was won in a competitive international tender and delivered against a schedule that saw the first train leave Litchurch Lane just 20 months after contract signature. The last of the 68 trains departed Derby on 16 January 2024. Throughout, the programme sustained 150 direct jobs.