Morocco’s Railway Modernizes: ONCF Receives First of 30 New Electric Locomotives

These new acquisitions, which will be delivered at a rate of two to three locomotives per month, were the subject of an international tender, which resulted in the contract being awarded in 2018 to the Alstom company, for a total amount of around 1.5 billion dirhams, ONCF said in a statement.

The program is fully financed by a loan granted by France, with a maturity of 40 years, a grace period of 10 years and an interest rate of 0.0016%. The amount covers the equipment, spare parts and park parts, the same source specifies.

These latest generation locomotives, with a maximum speed of 160 km/h, are designed with ultra-modern features: on-board computer, driving assistance, redundancy of the control and safety system, video recording system, etc.

Compliant with the standards and standards of the International Union of Railways (UIC), these vehicles are intended to ensure the connection with the "Al Boraq" high-speed trains on the heavily used routes, namely Casablanca-Fez and Casablanca-Marrakech, further enhancing the new train travel experience.

For the Freight and Logistics activity, these locomotives will make it possible to cope with the rail transport of vehicles manufactured at the PSA plant in Kenitra to the port of Tanger Med and to transport the containers from this port to Casablanca.