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Hyundai Rotem signs contract to supply train cars to Cairo

Hyundai Rotem, the train-making unit of Hyundai Motor Group, signed a 433 billion won ($380 million) contract to supply train cars to Egypt, the company said Monday.

It is the company’s largest deal in Africa to date since it began business on the continent in 1976. Its previous record was a 376.3 billion won deal to supply 180 train cars to Cairo in December 2012.

Under the signed contact, Hyundai Rotem will provide 256 train cars that will run on Cairo’s Metro Line 3 developed by National Authority for Tunnels under Egypt’s Ministry of Transportation.

The Cairo Metro Line 3 will extend from Imbaba and E-Mohandiseen and pass underneath the river Nile to Cairo International Airport, with a total length of 45.5 kilometers (28.3 miles). Beginning next year, all supplies will be completed by 2020.

“The government’s support played a major role in winning this contract,” a spokesperson from Hyundai Rotem said. The Ministry of Finance and Export-Import Bank of Korea backed up the deal with a financial package, such as through an Economic Development Cooperation Fund operated by the bank. Also, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kang Ho-in last year visited Cairo and suggested the Korean company participate in the Line 3 project while consulting with Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the president of Egypt.

“It is meaningful since about 80 small and midsize companies in supplier relationships with Hyundai Rotem can also enter overseas markets through the project,” the spokesperson added.