AfDB Invests €300 Million to Upgrade Morocco’s Tangier-Marrakech Railway

In a press release, the AfDB indicates that it is a matter of contributing to the improvement of the mobility of populations and the logistical competitiveness of the Kingdom. This financing has also made it possible to increase the number of railway tracks, to modernize the signaling, to build many structures such as the latest generation Casa-Port station or to build the central control post for signaling.

Beyond the financing, the AfDB also provides sustained support. According to the Managing Director of ONCF, Mohamed Rabie Khlie, "the AfDB is a historical partner, having always accompanied ONCF, since the 1990s". In addition to modernization, ONCF hopes to be able to "double, even triple the number of passengers on the network," adds Khlie.

Ahmed Bouhaltit, ONCF’s engineering director, also stressed that the rail network has undergone a revolution over the past ten years. There was the high-speed line (LGV), the doubling of the tracks towards Marrakech, the tripling of the tracks between Kenitra and Casablanca and the modernization of the operating system, "now much more intelligent, and much more efficient".

For his part, Souhail Tantaoui, "Downstream Flow" manager within the Moroccan subsidiary of the French manufacturer PSA, indicated that "the rail network is very important" for the development of a company like this one. "This allows us to evacuate our daily production towards the port of Tanger Med to export it then to Europe and around the world. The train is punctual and has advantages in terms of deadlines, since it avoids the circulation on the road of the equivalent of 35 trucks per day to transport our vehicles," he added.

In its press release, the AfDB indicated that Morocco now has a "modern, safe and reliable rail network, an infrastructure, at the forefront of technology, which strengthens the attractiveness of the Kingdom and improves the living conditions of the populations.