The Egyptian Minister of Transport has signed a $1.2 billion agreement with a Hungarian joint venture group – which is being led by TransMach Holding, a Russian manufacturer of locomotives and rail equipment – for the development of rail infrastructure projects across the country.

According to a report by Daily News Egypt, the deal will have the Russian-Hungarian JV manufacturing and supplying 1,300 new railway passenger vehicles. The deal might be considered the biggest deal in Egypt’s history, the report added.

Hisham Arafat, the transport minister, said that the agreement is aimed at improving the level of service and is in line with the country’s plan to improve Egypt’s railway infrastructure by 2020. He added that the 1,300 new railway cars were equal to 34% of all Egyptian railway vehicles.

A signing ceremony was held in the presence of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Transport Minister Hisham Arafat, Minister of Military Production Mohamed El Assar and representatives of the Russian company and the head of the Egyptian National Railways.