Cairo is the largest Arab city in terms of population and area, and ranks seventh in the world in terms of population (20 million and 901 thousand inhabitants, as of 2020) and accounts for about 20% of the total population of Egypt. It is the most populated city in Egypt, it should not be forgotten that thousands of people also come from other provinces and cities to Cairo every day for work, treatment or various services, because government offices, embassies, consulates, most of the main hospitals are located here.

The Egyptian government is constantly taking measures to improve the transport network and meet the needs of the growing population in the city. The government came up with the metro as one of the solutions to the traffic crisis in the Egyptian capital.

The first phase of the first line began in 1982 and ended in 1987 on October 1, and the second stage - in 1989 on April 12 to connect the industrial zone and Helwan University with the commercial area of ​​downtown Cairo and the northeast district of Cairo, which was 42 km long to El Margo.

It is also connected to the main southern and northern railway lines at Al-Shuhdaa station (formerly Mubarak) and the Suez/Ismailia line at Ain Shams station and the El-margo line/Shebin al-Kanater/Qaliub station.

The Egyptian government, due to the growing population and public transport problems, began to support the metro by building a second line connecting Cairo with the governorates of Giza and Qalubiyya and connecting Shubra al-Khaimah railway station with Giza railway station. Thus, the second line was built from Shubra al-Khaimah station to Giza, crossing two transfer stations: Al-Shuhdaa station "Ramses" and Anwar El Sadat station "Tahrir".

In order to meet the transport needs, the construction of the third metro line has started, connecting Cairo's east with the west, transferring the first line at Gamal Abdel Nasser station and the second line at Attaba station, with the aim of reducing ground traffic of other vehicles by 2 million trips per day and save 564 million hours of travel time of all vehicles per year.

It is planned to establish another 3 lines to absorb the increase:

The fourth line from October 6. to New Cairo,

The fifth line from Nasr City to Elsahel,

The sixth line from El Chosus to Novi Madi.

Only a small part of the Cairo metro is built underground, most of the kilometers are above ground, like in Istanbul. The first 2 cars are for women only, just like in Mexico.

The metro in Cairo is not only fast, but also one of the cheapest modes of transport in the city. One ticket costs EGP 6 (~€0.18) (Feb 2024), it is a paper (cardboard rather) ticket (not tokens like most metros use) but the only difference is that when you enter on the subway, it is necessary to save the ticket until the final stop, because it will need to be marked again before leaving the city, otherwise the exit gate will not open.

We traveled on the Cairo metro around 9 pm. in the evening, there were people in the carriages, but not as many as during the rush hour, when the subway is crowded, in the evening there were not even free seats to sit, but we only went a few stops, so we did not have to sit. The carriages are clean enough (we went from Tahrir Square) and modern, so the first experience in the Cairo metro was a pleasant surprise. And if in the future there will be a convenient metro connection, not during peak hours, I will be happy to use its services.