A consortium led by Bombardier Transportation has confirmed a deal with the Egyptian Government to build two new monorails thanks to £1.7 billion backing from UK Export Finance (UKEF), the largest amount of financing it has ever provided for an overseas infrastructure project.

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss today announced the government guarantee, which will support highly skilled jobs in Derbyshire as the UK builds back better in the aftermath of coronavirus.

Bombardier’s consortium was named preferred bidder for the project at the 2020 UK-Africa Investment Summit and, with UKEF’s guarantee, has secured the financing needed to fulfil the contract and start production. Bombardier can now invest in its manufacturing centre in Derby where the trains for the Egyptian monorails will be designed and built.

This will be the UK’s only monorail car production line and will directly support 100 UK jobs at the company and many more in its UK supply chain.

This news comes as the UK hosts the Africa Investment Conference today its first major international investment conference as an independent trading nation. The UK-Africa trade relationship was valued at £35 billion in 2019, with around £54 billion of bilateral investment stock on top of that. The UK is by far the biggest foreign direct investor in Egypt and continues to aspire to be its trade and investment partner of choice, and UKEF will play a key role in this shared vision for growth.

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said:

“Trade is an incredibly powerful way to propel growth and create jobs as we recover from the pandemic. This deal shows why we are so determined to get businesses to grasp these opportunities and take advantage of the support available from Government. One third of our economy is exports.”

Matt Byrne, president of Bombardier Transportation (UK and Ireland), said:

“The Cairo Monorail export win, against international competition, shows that that the UK rail sector can fight and win in key growth markets such as sustainable transport. This is the first UK export since our Derby-built trains were exported to South Africa for the Gautrain project in 2008.”

Bombardier employs 4,000 people in the UK, with around 2,000 in Derby including over 400 specialised engineers, who develop and build trains for rail franchises across Britain. This expertise will be used to build and maintain two electrified monorails that together will transport millions of people every year in the Cairo metropolitan area. The new lines will connect the New Administrative City with East Cairo and 6th October City with Giza.

The monorails are a part of Egypt’s plans to build a sustainable transportation infrastructure that can cope with its growing population while reducing climate change impacts.