President Mubarak of Egypt has opened a railway connecting two oases in the western desert, as part of a scheme to encourage Egyptians to move out of the overcrowded Nile valley.

The hundred-kilometre stretch of track runs from Baris north to Kharga, which contains one of the best-preserved ancient temples to be found in an Egyptian oasis.

The eventual plan is for the line to be extended another four-hundred kilometres east from Kharga to Safago on the Red Sea.