Global Rail Giants Compete for Massive Moroccan Train Contract

All the major international manufacturers of rolling stock, particularly European and Chinese, are on the offensive for the lucrative ONCF market. The call for competition for the acquisition of 168 trains (150 trains for inter-city services, Rapid Shuttle Trains and Metropolitans, as well as 18 High-Speed Trains for the extensions of the High-Speed lines) whets the appetites. Some manufacturers have advantages over others. This is the case of the French Alstom, the German Siemens Mobility, the Spanish CAF and Talgo, the Italian Ansaldo Breda (now Hitachi Rail Italy), the Chinese CRRC or the South Korean Hyundai. These companies were already among the ten industrialists preselected during an international Call for Expressions of Interest (AMI) around this acquisition, launched in November 2022 by the ONCF in Morocco, which makes them formidable competitors. "Talgo seeks to highlight the significant potential of two of its main products: the AVRIL high-speed train (TGV) and the EMU suburban and regional light train, which can reach 160 kilometers per hour, but has not yet been commercialized," explains La Información.

The acquisition of the 168 new trains requires an investment of 16 billion dirhams (MMDH). According to the office, this structuring project, which is in line with the vision of King Mohammed VI, aims to strengthen the national rail as the preferred choice for sustainable and inclusive mobility. The call for competition is structured around three components: the purchase of the trains, with a delivery schedule spread over 4 years between 2027 and 2030; the maintenance partnership (establishment by ONCF and the successful bidder of a joint structure, which will be responsible for providing, on behalf of ONCF, the services of current and industrial maintenance of the trains) and industrial development. On this last aspect, the successful bidder will have to carry a industrial development project, through the construction of a manufacturing unit and the development of a rail ecosystem, composed of suppliers and subcontractors, with an export ambition, identical to what has been achieved in the automotive and aeronautical industries.

This strengthening of the fleet will make it possible to support the strong growth in passenger traffic, to replace part of the rolling stock fleet that has reached the end of its life, but also to ensure the connections on the future extension of the high-speed line to Marrakech, as well as the proximity service, RER type in the regions of Casablanca and Rabat. ONCF will also offer a real opportunity to launch a Moroccan rail industrial ecosystem, which will have countless economic and social impacts, in terms of job creation, strengthening the national industrial fabric, with a local integration rate that will eventually make Morocco a highly competitive platform at the continental and global level.