Ramses Station

Ramses Railway Station (Arabic: محطة رمسيس‎ Maḥaṭṭat Ramsīs), also called Misr Station (Arabic: محطة مصر‎ Maḥaṭṭat Miṣr), is the main railway station of Cairo, Egypt. The name is derived from the Ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II, whose statue was erected by Nasser on the square there in 1955.

Cairo Ramses Station
Egyptian Railways general passenger rail station
Inside the station
LocationRamses Square, Cairo
Egypt
Owned byEgyptian National Railways
Line(s)Cairo - Alexandria
Alexandria - Aswan
ConnectionsCairo Metro (Lines 1 and 2)
Cairo Tram
Cairo Transport Authority bus
Microbus
Construction
Structure typeAt-grade
History
Opened1856
Rebuilt1892
Previous namesMisr Station
Traffic
Passengers300,000 daily[1]

History

The original railway station was built as the terminal of the first rail link from Alexandria to Cairo in 1856. The current building was erected in 1892 and upgraded in 1955. As of January 2001 it was undergoing a major modernisation. In early 2011, following the Egyptian Uprising, Ramses station was fully upgraded and air conditioned with new marble flooring across the station and the addition of escalators. Some critics believe that the modernisations were too modern and destroyed much of the building's original style.[2]

Huda Sha'arawi, the Egyptian feminist, famously removed her veil here in 1923.

The classic film Cairo Station (1958) was made at Ramses Station.[3]

Structure

Outside of the station used to be the statue of Ramses II that was relocated to the area of Giza on 25 August 2006, in preparation for its eventual installation in the Grand Egyptian Museum. It was eventually placed there in 2018.

The famous sculpture of Mahmoud Mokhtar, Nahdat Misr (Egypt's Awakening), was originally installed outside the station in 1928, but was removed to its current location near Cairo University in the 1950s.

Facilities in the station include a left luggage office, a post office, ATMs, a pharmacy and a tourist information office.[4]

Train services

Ramses Station is served by the vast majority of Egyptian National Railways' intercity passenger services.

Connecting services

The railway station has also a connection to Cairo Metro Lines 1 and 2 via the nearby "Al-Shohadaa/Martyrs" Station; Cairo Trams, city buses, microbuses, and Cairo taxis are also available.

Incidents
Main article: Ramses Station rail disaster

On 27 February 2019 a train hit a buffer stop at the station.[5] According to Egypt's Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek, one train driver had left his train to fight with another train driver; thereafter, an unmanned train struck a barrier. The resulting explosion and fire killed at least 25 people and wounded at least 47 people. Some victims' bodies were burned beyond recognition. Egypt's Transportation Minister Hisham Arafat resigned shortly after the incident.[6]

gollark: Which isn't that much, I pay more per week for travel.
gollark: Hmm, so a large pizza is worth maybe £15ish.
gollark: I assumed they had some sort of magic grandfathered in thing.
gollark: Hold on while I look up context for the pizza pricing thing?
gollark: Ah, so apparently the Eurozone is a small subset of the EU, oops.

See also

References
  1. "Egypt to construct new railway station to relieve pressure on Ramses station". Egypt Independent. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  2. "Saving Cairo Station" (Egypt Independent)
  3. https://egyptindependent.com/saving-cairo-station/
  4. Cairo Ramses Station on Lonely Planet
  5. "Deadly fire erupts at Cairo's main station". BBC News. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  6. "Fight between conductors caused train crash that killed at least 25 in Cairo". The Times of Israel. Associated Press. February 27, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.

Media related to Cairo Ramses Station at Wikimedia Commons


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