Train Schedules in Egypt

Guests outside Egypt can contact our booking department to book a train in Egypt

See Also

• Our Feature Article on Train Travel

• Abela Egypt for Sleeper Train Information

Egypt has a remarkably good - and cheap - rail network. Egyptian trains offer four classes of accommodation:

• 1st class air-conditioned

• 2nd class air-conditioned

• 2nd class ordinary (better thought of as 3rd class)

• 3rd class (better thought of as 4th class)

1st and 2nd air-conditioned class are available on express trains, and are comparable to European 1st and 2nd class. Ordinary 2nd class is much more basic, and usually only available on slower trains.

Train Times:

Train times for the most popular routes are shown further down this page:

Cairo - Alexandria

Cairo - Luxor - Aswan

Cairo - Suez

Cairo & Alexandria - Port Said

Cairo & Alexandria - El Alamein - Mersa Matruh

Egyptian National Railways does not have a website. You should check train times locally before traveling.

Fares:

Fares are extremely cheap by European and American standards. Take your student ISIC card if you have one - these may give you a 33% reduction. Some very approximate one-way fares are shown below:

In Egypt:

You can buy tickets at the railway station booking office when you get to Egypt, although as with anything else in Egypt, a degree of patience is called for... Alternatively, if you don't mind paying commission, you can use a local travel agent to buy tickets on your behalf.

Outside Egypt:

If you are short of time (or patience...) and particularly want to book your Egyptian train tickets before you arrive in Egypt, you can contact our booking department to book a train in Egypt

Cairo to Alexandria

There is an excellent train service between Alexandria and Cairo, with three sorts of train: Ordinary trains with very basic 2nd & 3rd class, express trains with comfortable air-conditioned 1st & 2nd class, and best of all, the pride of the Egyptian Railways, the superfast French-built 'Turbotrains', which eat up the 130 miles in just 2 hours 10 minutes. Fares: A 1st class one-way ticket for an air-conditioned express from Cairo to Alexandria costs about LE 25.

Cairo - Alexandria:
Train type:	Exp	Exp	Ord	Turbo	Exp	Ord	Exp	Exp	Ord	Exp	Ord	Exp	Ord+	Exp	Turbo	Exp
Cairo	depart	0440	0600	0605	0800	0815	0820	0900	0930	1000	1100	1115	1200	1215	1310	1400	1410
Alexandria	arrive	0700	0900	0940	1010	1100	1240	1110	1215	1405	1340	1415	1425	1540	1625	1610	1710

Train type:	Ord	Exp	Exp	Ord+	Exp	Exp	Ord	Exp	Ord	Exp	Turbo	Exp	Exp	Exp	Exp	Exp
Cairo	depart	1420	1500	1510	1530	1600	1700	1705	1800	1815	1830	1900	2000	2010	2030	2140	2230
Alexandria	arrive	1835	1720	1750	1810	1850	1940	2040	2010	2130	2150	2110	2245	2300	0000	0010	0100

Turbo - Superfast TURBOTRAIN, comfortable air-conditioned 1st & 2nd class with refreshments. Recommended train. Exp - Air-conditioned express, comfortable air-conditioned 1st & 2nd class with refreshments. Recommended train. Ord - Ordinary train, with very basic 2nd & 3rd class. Trains marked 'Ord+' also have air-conditioned 2nd class.

Alexandria - Cairo:
Train type:	Ord	Exp	Exp	Exp	Exp	Turbo	Exp	Ord+	Exp	Exp	Ord	Exp	Exp	Exp	Ord	Turbo
Alexandria	depart	0455	0600	0610	0700	0710	0800	0815	0910	1000	1100	1115	1200	1240	1300	1320	1400
Cairo	arrive	0845	0905	0920	0910	0950	1010	1055	1310	1240	1330	1420	1515	1530	1600	1715	1610

Train type:	Exp	Exp	Ord	Exp	Exp	Ord	Exp	Ord+	Exp	Turbo	Exp	Exp	Ord	Exp	Exp	Exp
Alexandria	depart	1500	1530	1540	1640	1700	1710	1730	1740	1800	1900	1930	2000	2010	2100	2130	2215
Cairo	arrive	1705	1810	1930	1900	1950	2120	2040	2140	2020	2110	2200	2240	0010	2340	0000	0040

Cairo to Luxor and Aswan

There are four different ways to travel by train between Cairo, Luxor and Aswan :

• Daytime air-conditioned express train with comfortable 1st & 2nd class seats. The journey takes most of the day, but just relax and enjoy the scenery. The trains run along the Nile for much of the journey, past palm trees, camels, and fellahin working in the fields. Cairo to Luxor in 1st class

• Overnight air-conditioned express train with comfortable 1st & 2nd class seats - see the 'air-conditioned express' pictures above. This saves time compared with traveling by day, but costs less than the deluxe sleeper. Cairo to Aswan costs about LE 160 one-way 1st class air-conditioned. Take a fleece or jumper - the air-con can be quite powerful..!

• Overnight deluxe sleeper: To save time and travel in comfort, take the deluxe overnight sleeping-car train. This has modern air-conditioned sleeping-cars with 1- and 2-berth rooms, and a club / lounge car - see the photos below. The fare includes an evening tray-meal and breakfast. The sleeper train is now run by a company called Abela Egypt, and special tourist-orientated fares apply, about US$60 per person one-way sharing a 2-berth compartment or US$80 in a 1-berth compartment from Cairo to either Luxor or Aswan. Passengers traveling alone who don't want to pay the extra for a single-berth compartment will be booked into a 2-berth compartment with another traveler of the same sex.

• Slow trains: There are also 2nd & 3rd class slow trains, which are very basic and not allowed for tourists - see the 'ordinary trains' pictures towards the top of the page. Government restrictions have recently been introduced which may prevent tourists from using these trains at all, unless you simply get on without a ticket and pay the conductor on board.

Cairo -Luxor - Aswan:
Train type:	Exp	Exp	Exp*	Ord	Ord+	Exp*	Ord+	Ord+	Ord+	Exp	Exp	Sleeper*	Exp	Ord+	Exp	Ord+
Alexandria	depart		2215			0710				1240		1640
Cairo	depart	0030	0115	0730	0745	1010	1100	1245	1405	1600	1845	1940	2000	2045	2100	2200	2330
Luxor	arrive	0940	1025	1725	1935	2000	2055	2330	0025	0245	0400	0445	0515	0555	0650	0715	1150
Aswan	arrive	1245	-	2035	2255	-	0000	-	-	0605	0700	0745	0815	-	1010	1025	1515

* Recommended trains (comfortable air-con expresses by day, sleeper train at night).

Exp - Air-conditioned express, comfortable air-conditioned 1st & 2nd class seats with refreshments. Ord - Ordinary train. 2nd & 3rd class seats. Trains marked 'Ord+' also have air-conditioned 2nd class seats.

Sleeper - Special deluxe sleeping-car train (with lounge car) run by Abela Egypt.

Trains (other than the sleeper train) can also be used for travel between Luxor and Aswan. Most trains also call at Asyt, Kom Ombo, Edfu, and Esna. All trains call at El Giza station about 20 minutes after leaving / before arriving at Cairo.

Aswan - Luxor - Cairo:
Train type:	Ord+	Exp*	Exp*	Slow	Exp*	Ord+	Ord+	Exp	Exp	Exp	Sleeper*	Ord+	Exp	Exp	Ord+	Ord+
Aswan	depart	-	0600	0730	0845	-	1200	-	1600	-	1800	1830	1900	2000	2100	2145	2330
Luxor	depart	0900	0920	1055	1211	1245	1530	1615	1910	2040	2110	2140	2235	2315	0015	0130	0315
Cairo	arrive	1920	1900	2100	0005	2155	0145	0400	0410	0545	0605	0645	0905	0820	0920	1230	1415
Alexandria	arrive	23:00					0510

Cairo to Port Said

Ord+ - Ordinary train, with 2nd class air-conditioned and 3rd class non-A/C.
Exp - Express train with air-conditioned 1st & 2nd class.
Fares

		Ord+	Exp	Ord+	Ord+	Ord+	Ord+	Ord+
Cairo	depart	06:25	-	08:45	11:30	14:35	-	19:10
Alexandria	depart		04:40				16:05
Port Said	arrive	10:20	11:10	12:25	15:35	18:55	21:55	23:05

		Ord+	Ord+	Ord+	Ord+	Ord+	Exp	Ord+
Port Said	depart	05:30	07:25	09:50	13:10	17:30	18:25	19:30
Alexandria	arrive		13:15				00:35
Cairo	arrive	09:45	-	13:40	17:25	21:30	-	23:25

Cairo to Suez

Fares: One-way 2nd class: about LE 6.

Ord - Ordinary train, with 2nd & 3rd class non-A/C.

		Ord	Ord	Ord	Ord	Ord	Ord
Cairo (Ain Shams station)	depart	06:30	09:20	13:10	16:15	18:45	21:45
Suez	arrive	08:35	11:35	15:15	18:25	21:00	00:00

		Ord	Ord	Ord	Ord	Ord	Ord
Suez	depart	06:00	10:10	13:10	15:50	19:00	21:25
Cairo (Ain Shams station)	arrive	08:15	12:15	15:25	18:05	21:10	23:35

Cairo/Alexandria to El Alamein and Mersa Matruh

Ord - Ordinary train, with 2nd & 3rd class non-A/C.
Exp - Express train with air-conditioned 1st & 2nd class

Ord

Ord

Exp

Ord

Ord

Exp

Ord

Ord

Cairo

depart

23:00

-

06:40

-

Mersa Matruh

depart

07:00

13:35

15:45

23:00

Alexandria

depart

06:40

13:30

El Alamein

depart

10:51

16:20

18:30

El Alamein

arrive

09:24

11:45

17:10

Alexandria

arrive

14:40

21:15

Mersa Matruh

arrive

06:00

12:00

14:15

20:40

Cairo

arrive

-

21:35

-

06:00

Last Updated: June 8th, 2011