Morocco Accelerates High-Speed Rail to Marrakech for 2030 World Cup

This TGV, which should be operational as early as 2029, is part of an overall strategy to modernize the Moroccan transport network. The project also includes the development of a regional express network (RER), which should also be completed before 2029, a year before the 2030 World Cup co-hosted by Morocco, Spain and Portugal.

The President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, Fouzi Lekjaa, present at this meeting, stressed the importance of these projects for the success of the sporting event.

To recall, the National Railway Office (ONCF) has recently launched a tender for the construction of a 375-kilometer line, extending from Kénitra to Marrakech, through 7 lots ranging from 36 kilometers to 64 kilometers, in the urban areas of Rabat-Salé and Casablanca and Marrakech. This is one of the projects for which Morocco has allocated investments worth 37 billion dirhams.

The tender also covers the design and construction of the railway line to accommodate trains running at speeds up to 350 kilometers per hour, as well as stations, signals, communications, and a maintenance center in Marrakech. ONCF’s strategy, which extends until 2040, aims to connect 43 cities by a train network, and to increase the percentage of train users among the total population, to 87% instead of 50% currently.

Regarding the RER, new regional train stations will be created in Bernoussi, Ain Sebaâ, Mers Sultan and Hay El Hassani, Nabila Rmili had indicated during an ordinary session of the municipal council, adding that all the routes to be taken by the RER had already been defined.