400 miles of railway, 300 miles of metalled and wire-meshed roads and 300 miles of pipes had to be laid. Drinking water had to be pumped underneath the Suez Canal from the Sweet Water Canal in the Nile Delta, requiring the construction of filtration plants, reservoirs and pumping stations. The line on the frontier was 45 miles in width, half the width of the 80–90-mile front on the Canal.