In 1833, Muhammad Ali Pasha considered building a railway between Suez and Cairo to improve transit between Europe and India.

Muhammad Ali had proceeded to buy the rail when the project was abandoned due to pressure by the French who had an interest in building a canal instead.

[citation needed] Muhammad Ali died in 1848, and in 1851 his successor Abbas I contracted Robert Stephenson to build Egypt's first standard gauge railway.

[5] However, on 15 May 1858 a special train conveying Sa'id's heir presumptive Ahmad Rifaat Pasha fell off the float into the river and the prince was drowned.

[3] Sa'id's successor Isma'il Pasha strove to modernise Egypt and added momentum to railway development.

[3] The network started to push southwards along the west side of the Nile with the opening of the line between Imbaba near Cairo and Minya in 1867.

[3] In the Nile Delta the same year a short branch reached Kafr el-Sheikh and in 1876 a line along the Mediterranean coast linking the termini at Alexandra and Rosetta was completed.

[7] A Council of Administration with Egyptian, British and French members was appointed in 1877 to put the railway's affairs in order.

[8] Trevithick found a heterogeneous fleet of up to 246 steam locomotives of many different designs from very different builders in England, Scotland, France and the USA.

[8] From 1877 to 1888, the ERA struggled to keep up with even basic maintenance[7] but by 1887 Trevithick managed to start a programme to renew 85 of the very mixed fleet of locomotives with new boilers, cylinders and motion.

The line south was extended further upriver from Assiut reaching Girga in 1892, Nag Hammadi in 1896, Qena in 1897 and Luxor and Aswan in 1898.

[6] With the railroad's completion, construction began the same year on the first Aswan Dam and the Assiut Barrage, main elements of a plan initiated in 1890 by the government[9] to modernize and more fully develop Egypt's existing irrigated agriculture, export potential, and ability to repay debts to European creditors.

[5] A double swing bridge was completed in 1954 but the 1956 Israeli invasion of Sinai severed rail traffic across the canal for a third time.

After 1967 Israel again destroyed the railway across occupied Sinai and this time used the materials in the construction of the Bar Lev Line of fortifications along the Suez Canal.

[6] Among its most prominent exhibits are three preserved steam locomotives: In 2005 ENR operated 5,625 kilometres (3,495 mi) of standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) track.

[18] In the South the railway system of Sudan operates on a narrow gauge and is reached after using the ferry past the Aswan dam.

[19] Services were severely disrupted during the political protests in early 2011; operating hours of the Cairo Metro were shortened to comply with the curfew.

[20] On 16 January 2015, Egyptian National Railways signed a €100 million contract with Alstom to supply signalling equipment for the 240 km Beni Suef-Asyut line and maintain services for five years.

[27] On 1 September 2021, the National Authority for Tunnels signed a $4.5 billion contract with Siemens Mobility, Orascom Construction S.A.E.

and Arab Contractors to build and maintain a 660 km (410 mi) high-speed electrified line connecting Ain Sokhna to Mersa Matruh and Alexandria.

In addition to carrying out electrification and installation of ETCS Level 2, Siemens will supply Velaro high-speed trains, Desiro regional sets, and Vectron freight locomotives.

ENR serves a number of places by bus services including Abu Simbel (bus/ferry), Sharm el Sheik, Siwa Oasis, and Hurghada.

The 2006 Qalyoub train collision led to further criticism of the management of the ENR raising issues of underfunding and corruption.

[43] In response to the accidents an investment programme was launched in 2007 with the aim of modernising the rail network and improving safety standards.

Rolling stock includes rakes of bogie bolster wagons, typically seen loaded high with sugar cane.