Egypt Part The Third 2022, From Cairo To Luxor & The Joys of Egyptian Train Travel!

If you have been keeping up with my Egyptian Odyssey you will remember that twice before I have used the trains in Egypt, once from Luxor to Aswan, and the overnight sleeper from Aswan to Cairo in 2017 so I am at least a little prepared for the journey.

(Leaving the train at Luxor a man tried to tell me he was a ticket collector and wanted my ticket, he actually wanted my ticket to get out of the station because he didn't have one....)

What you have to remember is that this is Egypt...... While the British might have been responsible for the original construction they have not been responsible for the maintenance required. Neither, it would appear, have the Egyptians.

Forget the comfort of being whisked by Richard Branson from London Euston to Manchester, or indeed the speed with which Amtrak will take you from Boston to New York, for a start the rolling stock is considerably older, and they certainly have not got around to electrification!

The rolling stock has a variety of descriptions, the one I am on is described as ''Speed AC Spanish''. Now quite what this means I am not sure but I suspect that it means it was bought second hand from Spain.....

Having been heaved aboard by the man that checks the train is actually coupled together, and slipping him a fiver for heaving my 22kg suitcase up on to the overhead rack, I take my seat on upholstery that has certainly seen better days.....

 The train is airconditioned to the extent that it is freezing cold which required me putting on a second pair of socks, and the toilet arrangements leave something to be desired. No scrub that, they leave a LOT to be desired.

But I am getting ahead of myself, the train is due to depart at 10.00am and arrive in Luxor at 6.42pm. A total of 8 hours and 42 minutes..... 10.00am is when the train arrives at the platform, it leaves at 10.10am and after a saunter arrives at Giza half an hour later. A 15km journey....

There are supposedly a couple of other stops on the way but it is (supposed) to be a non stop to Luxor.

Shortly after departure we cross the Nile and are treated to the normal Egyptian urban landscape which like most others is not particularly exciting....

There are quite a few urban infrastructure projects underway in the outskirts of Cairo and these seem to mainly be the construction of elevated roads, like the one below which is a flyover over the railway and several buildings as well.

Sadly the same investment is not being made in the railways.....

AS ever in Egypt there are the remains of older buildings demolished and left as well as the proverbial piles of rubbish. Removing all this would be a project of such vast proportions that it will probably never be attempted!

But it is not long before we reach the rural landscape which prevails along the Nile valley, naturally the windows have had only a cursory wash on the outside, but then the inside is not that clean either...

After a while even I get less interested in the landscape rolling by and resort to a book unless something catches my attention...

You can try sleeping of course but will be woken often as the carriage makes violent lurches over the uneven tracks....

And if you are at the front the driver is almost continuously sounding the horn on the train, although I must admit the horn is quite musical although why it has to be sounded almost continuously is beyond me.

Passing through the fields is a little like a journey in time.... Donkeys and carts and the occasional camel are the commonest form of transport and the agriculture is all manual labour, rarely will you see a tractor. And here's a little video for you!