Sohag Train Accident: The Perpetrator and Responsible Party is the Regime

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

With profound sorrow and grief, the Revolutionary Socialists mourn the victims of the tragic train collision today in Sohag governorate, which has claimed 32 lives so far and injured 91 others. We wish the injured a swift recovery.

With every train accident resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries, the regime’s mouthpieces in newspapers and media programs come out to suggest that such incidents are natural and “fate and destiny.” They also place the blame on the drivers and railway workers, as happened in the tragic Ramses train accident in February 2019, which resulted in 25 martyrs and dozens of injuries. These drivers and workers are often the first victims of such painful incidents, and they have long demanded the development of trains and locomotives and regular maintenance operations.

The accident occurred due to decades of neglect in industrial safety, decades of reduced spending on services provided to citizens, and the diversion of Egyptian wealth to serve the regime’s goals and the interests of the upper classes. This type of accident is not new; train accidents have claimed the lives of more than 650 citizens in just ten of the most significant incidents, starting with the Al-Ayyat train fire in 2002, which claimed 373 lives, and ending with the Ramses train accident two years ago.

The regime is solely concerned with its interests, showing no regard for services and facilities intended for people experiencing poverty. The regime does not shy away from expressing this on every occasion. No one can forget Sisi’s infamous statement at one of his conferences in May 2017, when he said, “Instead of spending 10 billion to develop the railway, we put it in the bank and take a billion pounds in interest.” The picture becomes more apparent when we know that the high-speed electric train project to be implemented by the German company Siemens, which will connect Ain Sokhna with the New Alamein City, passing through the new administrative capital, will cost about 360 billion pounds! The regime exploits the wealth of Egyptians, not to serve them, improve their facilities, or protect their lives that are lost in train and other accidents, but to serve its interests and connect its investment cities.

The regime focuses on preserving its interests and enhancing its massive investment projects that benefit only itself and major Egyptian and foreign companies. This policy is fortified by an iron dictatorship that throws tens of thousands into prisons and the depths of enforced disappearances, torture, and other forms of repression.

Silence is no longer a refuge for safe living under this authority. Preserving the lives of the poor, who fall victim to neglect and the regime’s criminal economic policies, must be an additional motive to form the broadest possible front of democratic forces to oppose this regime.