A crane is deployed to lift a derailed train at the scene of a railroad accident in the city of Qalyub in Qalyub province, in Egypt's Nile delta region. (Credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP)
Four people were killed and 23 injured when a passenger train slammed into the buffers at a station north of Cairo, the Egyptian health ministry said in an update Wednesday.
The incident occurred in Qalyub, just north of the capital Cairo in the Nile Delta.
Egypt's national rail authority said the accident occurred when a passenger train entering Qalyub station went through a stop signal.
"That led to the derailment of the locomotive and the first carriage," the authority said in a statement.
Pictures from the scene showed first responders converging on rail cars which still appeared to be right side up, behind a high wall in a built-up area.
Police formed a perimeter to hold back crowds who perched on other walls nearby.
Emergency crews using a crane to lift the derailed coach that appeared to be partially crumpled.
The National Railways Authority said the driver had overshot the station and run into the buffers at the end of the track after passing through a stop signal.
"That led to the derailment of the locomotive and the first carriage," the authority said in a statement.
Tuesday's crash in the city of Qalyub was the latest in a spate of deadly accidents on Egypt's rail network that have mostly been blamed on aging infrastructure and poor maintenance.
In April 2021, Transport Minister Kamel el-Wazir fired the rail authority's head following an uproar in the Arab world's most populous country over mismanagement of dilapidated train lines.
The sacking came two days after an accident that cost 23 lives.
Sacking
Ashraf Raslan was dismissed as part of a shuffle of 10 top railway officials.
"The goal of these decisions is not merely about leadership changes of the authority but are in line with the next stage which demands... a complete upgrade of the railway network," the transport ministry said at the time.
The changes "underway aim to provide better services, working around the clock to serve commuters and to upgrade... this essential service which transports millions of passengers yearly", it said in a statement.
In March 2021, at least 20 people died and nearly 200 were injured in a train crash in southern Egypt, according to an official toll that authorities revised several times.
The prosecution service later alleged the driver of the speeding Egyptian train and his assistant had both left the driver's cabin when it crashed into another train, which was stationary.
The assistant on the second train had used cannabis and was under the influence of the painkiller tramadol, as was a track signalman, the prosecutor also alleged.
Wazir, a former general, was named transport minister after a 2019 train collision blamed on human error.
"We have a problem with the human element," he said, pledging to set up an automated network by 2024.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has vowed to hold to account those responsible for the recurrent deadly accidents on Egypt's railways in recent years.
One of the deadliest came in 2002 when a fire ripped through a crowded train south of the capital, killing 373 people.
Egypt's roads are also the scene of regular deadly accidents. Roads are often poorly maintained and driving rules flouted.
Egypt's national rail authority said the accident occurred when a passenger train entering Qalyub...