A 3.3-kilometre tunnel is being bored beneath Rabat to carry the TGV

Moroccan construction company Société générale des travaux du Maroc (SGTM), which is carrying out the project with China’s Sinohydro Bureau 5, has just announced that the Rabat railway tunnel is entering a new construction phase.

The structure is one of the most complex sections of the future Kénitra-Marrakech high-speed line. It is to connect the Bouregreg Valley with Rabat-Agdal station over a total length of 3,300 metres.

In a recent statement devoted to the project, SGTM confirmed that work is progressing on this strategic section and recalled that the overall contractual deadline is set at 42 months.

The tunnel will not consist of a uniform structure throughout its length. The main section will be a 2,750-metre single-bore, double-track tunnel. It will be followed by a 50-metre-long open section, then a 500-metre, four-track covered trench approaching Rabat-Agdal.

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This configuration is intended to allow the new high-speed tracks to be integrated into an already particularly dense urban environment while preserving the existing railway infrastructure.

A project costing more than 1.4 billion dirhams

The construction of the structure had been awarded by ONCF to the consortium comprising SGTM and Sinohydro Bureau 5. The contract was awarded for approximately 1.4 billion dirhams, according to the results of the tender published in 2024.

The contract documents provided from the outset for this 3.3-kilometre underground crossing between Bouregreg and Rabat-Agdal.

The first major tunnel works began in 2025, after several months devoted to preparatory installations and the organisation of a construction site made challenging by its location in the heart of the capital.

The passage beneath Rabat is essential for extending the high-speed network to Casablanca and then Marrakech. In particular, it is intended to increase railway capacity while further separating the different train flows approaching Rabat-Agdal station.

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The tunnel is part of the gigantic Kénitra-Marrakech HSL project launched by Morocco, notably in preparation for the 2030 World Cup. The new line is to extend the Al Boraq network southwards, currently linking Tangier to Casablanca via Kénitra and Rabat.

Crossing the capital is one of the main technical challenges of this extension. Unlike the long sections built in open terrain, the teams must work here beneath a densely urbanised area and in the immediate vicinity of railway infrastructure that remains operational.

Once completed, the tunnel will allow future TGVs to disappear beneath Rabat for nearly three kilometres before reaching Agdal station, making this underground structure one of the most spectacular links in the new line to Marrakech.