Morocco’s Railway Office Seeks Partners for Train Manufacturing Hub and Fleet Expansion

Launched on September 15, the call for expressions of interest (AMI) for railway rolling stock manufacturers has the following objectives: multi-year program for the purchase of self-propelled trains, partnership for the maintenance of self-propelled trains, setting up a production unit for self-propelled trains and development of a rail ecosystem, reports Challenge. According to the AMI, ONCF’s ambition is to set up a rail industrial ecosystem around a production unit for self-propelled trains with a local integration rate of around 60 to 80%. This will involve a partnership that the office will have to establish with an industrial group specialized in the field. This ambition is in line with a roadmap called "Ambition 2025-2035". This factory will have to start exporting to Africa and Europe by 2035.

To export, it will be necessary to go through subcontracting (in the first rank) for other sites of the selected manufacturer, for sub-assemblies to be defined, with the possibility of resorting to local subcontracting (in the second rank). The industrial unit will have to export trains with a maximum speed of 200 km/h that can be fitted out for inter-city or RER uses. "The integration rate will be progressive, in accordance with a purchase program which provides that the first 15 trains delivered, produced outside Morocco with a local integration rate of 5% to 10%; the next 15 trains, produced in Morocco as part of the industrial unit in question, with an integration rate of 30% to 40% and the remaining volumes, produced in Morocco as part of the industrial ecosystem, with an industrial integration rate of 60% to 80%," specifies the AMI.

Applications must be submitted no later than November 11.