Hyundai Rotem Co., locomotive and rolling stock unit of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group, said on Tuesday that it has delivered 8 subway cars for Cairo metro Line 3 in Egypt, the first batch in the 2017 order.

Under the 433 billion won ($349.9 million) deal awarded by National Authority for Tunnels (NAT), a division of Egypt’s transport ministry, Hyundai Rotem is responsible for the supply of 256 metro cars with a local partner by 2023 for an extension project of Line 3 to connect the city’s east and west from Ataba to Cairo International Airport. Total length is about 45.5 kilometers.

The first set of 8 metro cars supplied by Hyundai Rotem of total 256 cars will be in operation after a trial test in the city.

A Cairo subway carries 8 train cars in 1 unit, which can carry about 1,740 passengers. Its maximum speed is 80 kilometers per hour.

Cars provided by Hyundai Rotem have gangway connection or hallway between metro cars, allowing passengers to move flexibly from one unit to the other.

Hyundai Rotem said that it was able to win the order in 2017 from Cairo, backed by export funding from Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Economic Development Cooperation Fund.

The company also attributed to its knowhow achieved from Cairo Line No. 1 project.

For the latest project, Hyundai Rotem introduced a component that operates smoothly even in high temperature environment such as in Egypt when temperature soars to as high as 50 degrees Celsius during summer.

Hyundai Rotem, meanwhile, made its first entry into the African market in 1976 when it won a deal to supply 30 train cars in Gabon. The company won orders in Nigeria and Ghana to supply trains and diesel engine locomotives. In 2007, it expanded presence by winning an order to supply 108 subway cars in Tunisia, 180 cars for Cairo Line No. 1 in 2012, and 112 cars for suburb train in Tunisia in 2016.

The latest order of Line No. 3 in Cairo is the largest project won thus far by the company in Africa.

As of 12:35 p.m., shares of Hyundai Rotem gained 2.17 percent to 16,450 won on Tuesday.

By Lee Eun-joo

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