Alexandria
Cairo
Heliopolis
Helwan

 

Line 1 of the Cairo metro opened in 1987. It is sometimes referred to as the French Built Line, or more commonly, the Regional Line, since it came about from the joining of two regional railways.  The 43.5 km line (3 km underground) serves 33 stations with an hourly 60,000 passenger capacity per direction. Running from El-Marg to Helwan, the line is mostly above ground, with the downtown section in subway.

Line 2, from Shoubra to Cairo University, is 19 km long with 18 stations. It is sometimes called the Japanese Built Line, and during the opening phases of construction, lines of Japanese carrying gigantic stones on their backs could be seen for miles. Eventually, a tunnel boring machines was acquired.

Opened in four stages, starting in October 1996 and finished in 2000, the line is being extended to Giza. It currenty includes the first ever underground crossing of the Nile River. It is mostly in bored tunnel, except for a short section at the northern end approaching Shubra El-Kheima, which is elevated, and a section just south of this by cut-and-cover.

Four more lines are proposed, with line 3 from Imbaba to Al Hazar, and soon to the airport.  The metro is run by the National Authority for Tunnels. The first car of each train is reserved for women, so if you're a guy, remember to bring your veil.

Cairo also has approximately 24 km of tram lines first opened in 1896. All three lines are run by the Cairo Transportation Authority, and wre built by the Belgian company, the S.A. des Tramways du Caire.