The Egyptian National Railways system supports far more discount categories than most passengers expect. They are not simply "student" and "employee" — the classification distinguishes public from private sector, solo travellers from those with a companion, and discounted tickets from monthly subscriptions.
This guide lists the categories as they exist in the system, so passengers can check whether a discount applies before buying a full-price ticket.
Two separate systems: discounted tickets and subscriptions
- Ticket holder profile — a discount applied to a single journey at purchase.
- Subscription — a recurring travel permit for a period, with its own categories and separate subscription fees.
The same group may appear in both tracks under different conditions, so the right question at the counter is not "is there a discount?" but "is there a discount on the ticket or on a subscription?".
Social and medical categories
- Blind passengers — with a fully separate category for blind with guide.
- War veterans — with a separate category for veteran with guide.
- Cancer patients — and cancer patient with guide.
- Children with cancer — plus a dedicated category for a child with cancer travelling with a guide, under ten years old.
Note that "with guide" is an independent category in each case, not an add-on — meaning the accompanying person has a recognised status in the system.
Students
Students are not one category. The system defines four official ones by level and educational authority: school student (Ministry of Education), university student (Ministry of Higher Education), Al-Azhar school student, and Al-Azhar university student.
Employment categories
- ENR employees and ENR retirees.
- Children of ENR employees — split by whether the parent holds a gold/silver medal.
- University professors — public and private sector as separate categories.
- ENR police and National Security Police.
- Members of parliament.
- Subscriptions for military officers and soldiers, and police officers and policemen.
- Ghazl El-Mahalla Company — an organisation with its own named category.
The medal system
One of the least-known parts of the system: a colour-coded medal classification for ENR staff, retirees and external organisations — gold, silver, red, blue, green, brown and grey. Some medals are further split by class (blue external-organisation first class AC, and blue external-organisation second class AC).
"Anonymous" subscriptions
A practical detail worth knowing: most subscription categories have an anonymous variant — a subscription not tied to a named individual. This lets an organisation hold a subscription used interchangeably by several staff members.
Group booking
Alongside individual categories there is a separate group-booking system covering scouts, orphanages, youth care institutions, sports teams and exhibitions — some with explicit discount percentages. These are covered in our group booking guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does the discount apply to every class?
The categories exist system-wide, but whether a discount applies to a given class follows that class's own tariff rules.
Does a companion need a full ticket?
"With guide" is an independent approved category, so the companion has a defined status determined at the counter.
What is the public/private sector distinction?
Most categories exist in two versions — public and private sector — with different conditions based on the passenger's employer.
A note on percentages and amounts
This guide lists the approved categories without quoting discount percentages or amounts, because values are set administratively and updated without unified publication. Required documents and the applicable rate are determined by the station ticket office or subscriptions office.
You can browse train types and classes and Egypt railway stations to plan your trip.
More passenger guides in our travel guide.