Power outage hits Cairo, halts metro line

The sweltering heat was accompanied on Tuesday morning by a major power outage in several areas across Cairo and Giza, causing a malfunction in the metro and halting transportation.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Electricity said the outage was caused by a breakdown in a power transformer west of Cairo Tuesday morning, as a result of consistently high temperatures and the heavy load placed on the transformer, the state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.

Residents of Maadi, Dokki, Garden City, Mohandiseen, Zamalek and Haram, among other areas, all reported power cuts at about 10 am, lasting until around noon.

The power outage affected the Marg-Helwan metro line, hindering the metro for around 30 minutes.

The Egyptian Company for Metro Management and Operation said the power was cut at the Tora power station, which is responsible for feeding the second half of the Marg-Helwan metro line, starting from the Shohadaa station until Helwan.

The metro stopped in both directions, MENA reported.

Passengers at Sayeda Zeinab platform reported spending over two hours inside the metro coming from Marg, while others reported spending one to two hours coming from Ain Shams.

Passengers said that the metro would arrive at the platform every 30 minutes and would remain there for a long time before heading to the next station.

By noon, the system had picked up again and trains were arriving more frequently.

Last September, a major power outage also hit Egypt, affecting the metro as well as TV stations and paralyzing other parts of the country. 

Power cuts, especially those that occur during the summer, are typically blamed on high consumption, but more recently are either attributed to acts of sabotage or to the poor quality fuel which results in low productivity and an increased need for maintenance in power plants.