Interior Ministry halts plans to reopen Sadat metro station

The Interior Ministry continues to prevent the reopening of the Sadat metro station in downtown Cairo, despite repeated requests from the Ministry of Transportation to do so, privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm reported on Saturday. 

Transportation Minister Hany Dahy has reportedly requested to partially reopen the Sadat station as a transit stop, thereby preventing commuters from accessing Tahrir Square from the station (or accessing the station from the square), but allowing them to use the stop to transfer to other lines underground. However, the Interior Ministry has purportedly dismissed Dahy’s request indefinitely. 

The Sadat station is one of only two points in the metro system were commuters can switch to other lines. The station has been shut since August 14, 2013 following the violent dispersal of pro-Brotherhood Rabea al-Adaweya and Nahda square sit-ins. 

The closure has resulted in chaotic congestion for commuters at the Shohadaa metro station in Ramses Square. According to figures provided by the National Authority for Tunnels, an estimated four million commuters use the metro system to move around Greater Cairo each day.

This is not the first time commuters’ hopes are crushed after news of reopening the station is denied. Sources at the Metro Company told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the Transportation Minister was forced to cancel his earlier decision to reopen the Sadat station in February, even after installing additional security measures costing LE400,000, including 20 new surveillance cameras and six metal detectors.

However, the Interior Ministry shut down the plans hours before the station was scheduled to reopen because of the Air Defence Stadium clashes, for fear of Ultras football groups breaking into the station, the source added. 

“We demand that Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb interferes to lift the daily suffering of over 300,000 passengers, especially since the shifting pressure to the Shohadaa station has exhausted its workers and ruined a lot of its machines,” the source concluded.