There's nothing more romantic than a leisurely old-fashioned train ride - so doesn't it feel like we might be missing out? A metro isn't quite the same; Agatha Christie would never write about a convoluted murder plot in a regular subway. But recently, we learned about a shipment that indicates that our railway systems are about to change.

On Wednesday, June 24th, Alexandria’s port received the first batch of what is literally the biggest deal in the history of Egyptian National Railways (ENR). The 1.16 billion euro deal with the Russian-Hungarian company Transmashholding was signed back in 2018, and now - after a 2-year wait - 22 train vehicles from a total of up to 1,300 have been sent over.

Currently, the deal includes 1,000 third-class units, 210 second-class units and 90 first-class units. If this mega-deal doesn’t give the railway systema facelift, we’re not sure anything will.

The rest of the batches will send 35 trains at a time, with the second batch arriving in the first week of July from Saint Petersburg.