2008/7/9 Ahmed Koraiem amkoraiem@gmail.com:
I cannot answer all your questions but if you want to reserve a seat in a train from cairo to alexandria
you can reserve online before even coming at https://www.egypt.gov.eg/english/services/enr/default.asp
and I recommend that you start reserving within the next 2 days because during this tiem of summer, train seats become sold out before 2 or 3 days of the train's departure
I also recommend that you get a 1st class seat at the Espanol train (El Aspany) or the Turbo train (El Torbiny), because the're the ones who are direct to alexandria without stops and have an air conditioned first class seats,, otherwise, it may be annoying
the trip could take from 2-3 hours depending on the train and the departure time, and there are trains to alex almost every 2 or hours but the direct ones are about 3 a day, so check out good
if you want to reserve a train from egypt after you arrive, you don't have to go to te train station itself in cairo (Mahattet Masr), you can reserve a ticket from one of the 2 main phone centrals of Almaza or Heliopolis (masr el gedida)
Hope that helps...
Ahmed Koraiem
What about the free shuttle from Cairo to Alexandria that is being provided? Will we get information on that soon? Such as: where it is located from the airport, how to obtain tickets, how far is the station in Alexandria from the dorms? (echoing Lodewijk here, but with a week to go, I'd really like to be prepared).