 Services were severely disrupted during the political protests in early 2011; operating hours of the Cairo Metro were shortened to comply with the curfew.On January 16, 2015 Egyptian National Railways signed a €100 million contract with Alstom to supply signalling equipment for the 240 km Beni Suef-Asyut line and maintain services for five years.Also, Alstom will provide smartlock electronic interlocking system to replace the existing electromechanical system, which in turn will increase the number of trains that operate on the route by more than 80%.