Cairo’s Line 3 is the first in the city’s metro to have automatic train operation. The initial 4.3km, five-station section to Abbasiya from Attaba (the interchange with Line 2) has been operating since February 2012. On 7 May 2014, the $US1.7 billion, five-station, 7.2km eastern section extension to Line 3 was officially opened. It runs from Abbasiya to Haroun El Rachid in the Heliopolis district. Daily passengers on this line are now expected to total some 600,000. The proceeds of a loan agreement signed by the government with the French Development Agency and the European Investment Bank will provide some of the funding required for the third phase, which is to be 18km in length with 15 stations. Line 3 will eventually extend 34km in total, from the Giza district in the west of the city to the international airport in the east.

Source: www.railwaysafrica.com , 13 May 2014