Ramses Station

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Ramses Station
Egyptian Railways general passenger rail station

Inside the station
Station statistics
Address Ramses Square, Cairo
Egypt
Line(s) Cairo-Alexandria
Alexandria-Aswan
Connections Cairo Metro (Lines 1 and 2)
Cairo Tram
Cairo Transport Authority bus
Microbus
Structure type At-grade
Other information
Opened 1856
Rebuilt 1892
Owned by Egyptian National Railways
Formerly Misr Station

Ramses Railway Station is the main railway station of Cairo, Egypt. The name is derived from the Ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II whose statue was erected by Nasser on the square in 1955. The station was formerly known as Misr Station.

The original railway station was built as the terminal of the first rail link from Alexandria to Cairo in 1856. The current building was erected in 1892 and upgraded in 1955. As of January 2001 it was undergoing a major modernisation. In early 2011, following the Egyptian Uprising, Ramses station was fully upgraded and air conditioned with new marble flooring across the station and the addition of escalators. Some critics believe that the modernisations were too modern and destroyed much of the building's original style.

Outside of the station used to be the statue of Ramses II that was relocated to Memphis, Egypt, 12 miles (19 km) south of Cairo in the area of Giza on 25 August 2006.

The railway station has also a connection to Cairo Metro Lines 1 and 2 via the nearby "Al-Shohadaa/Martyrs" Station; Cairo Trams, city buses, microbuses, and Cairo taxis are also available.

Huda Shaarawi, the Egyptian feminist, famously removed her veil here.

The famous sculpture of Mahmoud Mokhtar, Nahdat Misr (Egypt's Awakening), was originally installed outside the station in 1928, but was removed to its current location near Cairo University in the 1950s.

See also

Coordinates: 30°03′49″N 31°14′50″E / 30.06361°N 31.24722°E / 30.06361; 31.24722


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