Morocco’s High-Speed Rail Booms: 3 Million Passengers in 2019, Reducing Traffic and Emissions

In detail, the high-speed line carried 8,250 passengers per day, with an occupancy rate of 68% on weekdays and 100% on weekends and public holidays. In 2019, 600,000 cars and 58,400 buses did not circulate on the Casablanca-Tangier route thanks to the commissioning of Al Boraq; this saved one million tons of polluting carbon, according to La Vie éco.

In a comparative study with other means of transport, the newspaper compares CTM (bus with acceptable comfort) to Al Boraq. The high-speed line takes 2 hours and 10 minutes between Casablanca-Tangier, while it takes 4 hours and 30 minutes for the CTM. On the other hand, the round-trip price with Al Boraq costs twice as much as that of the CTM. As for the personal vehicle, it is more profitable than Al Boraq for a number of passengers equal to or exceeding two people.

"We maintain the daily Casablanca-Tangier flights. But when Al Boraq arrives at Casablanca airport (a project under study for an investment of 3.8 billion dirhams), the impact will be even better on air traffic. It will complement the air offer and will not be perceived at all as a competitor to our offers," said a source.

It should be remembered that Royal Air Maroc (RAM) operates two daily air links between Casablanca and Tangier.