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Train derails in Egyptian capital Cairo

BBC 17 July 2012 Last updated at 16:28 GMT

A train has derailed south of Egypt's capital Cairo, injuring at least 15 passengers, officials have said.

Some reports say the passenger train burst into flames, and unconfirmed accounts say it collided with a lorry.

One passenger told BBC Arabic in Cairo that some people had been killed, though that account has not been confirmed.

The train was heading into Cairo from the province of Suhag when it came off the line in the Badrashin area of Giza.

Egypt's last major rail crash was in 2009, when some 18 people were killed and dozens injured in a collision between two passenger trains in the Giza area.

In 2002, a train caught fire in Cairo killing 373 people.

Egypt train crash injures 15 - officials

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 6:52 PM

CAIRO, July 17 (Reuters) - An Egyptian train derailed in a Cairo suburb on Tuesday and 15 people were injured, security and medical officials said, denying early reports that passengers had died in the crash.

The train was travelling from southern Egypt towards Cairo when it derailed in the Giza neighbourhood of Badrashin, two security officials in the area said.

"Three wagons of train number 990 came off the tracks without any loss of life... The injured received treatment in hospital and were able to leave," said Kamal el-Daly, head of Giza police investigations department.

Egyptians complain that successive governments have failed to enforce basic safety standards on the country's railways, leading to a string of deadly accidents. (Reporting by Tamim Elyan; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Delayed rail passengers cause crash

Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Belfast Telegraph

Egyptian passengers fed up with waiting for their train to move put logs and rocks on the rails of a nearby track, causing two other trains to collide, an official has said.

A security official said some of the passengers in Giza, Cairo's twin city, were enraged that they had to wait for more than 30 minutes on their train to allow another train to pass.

Some of the restless passengers placed logs and rocks on the rails of the track of the other train that was holding theirs up. When the speeding train approached, the debris caused it to sideswipe another train. Three cars of the fast-moving train overturned and at least four people were injured.

Since last year's uprising, there have been numerous protests staged by train passengers demanding better services as well as strikes by railway employees demanding higher wages, often delaying trains for hours and sometimes days.

In January, newspapers reported that 1,720 trains had been delayed because of the protests. Most Egyptians cannot afford air travel, which is also limited to cities with airports, and the country's roads are poorly paved and dangerous, making trains a popular option.

The railway system has a poor safety record that has long been blamed on badly maintained equipment and poor management. Egypt's worst railway disaster took place in February 2002 when a train heading to southern Egypt caught fire, killing more than 370 people.