Why Egypt’s trains keep crashing

THE IMAGES are so familiar as to be almost mundane: a carriage flipped on its side like a child’s toy; passengers scrambling to help survivors. On April 18th a train derailed near the Egyptian city of Toukh, north of Cairo, killing 11 people and injuring almost 100. It was the third serious accident in less than a month, including a collision between two trains that killed 19 people.The official response was equally routine. Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the president, formed a committee and promised to compensate the victims. The conductor was detained. The transport minister, Kamel al-Wazir, a former army general, shuffled some top jobs at the railway authority. He did not sack himself, saying he would be a “traitor” if he quit his post.