Morocco Unveils $40 Billion Rail Expansion to Connect 43 Cities

The extension of the rail network plans the construction of 3,800 kilometers of conventional rail lines. The project aims to connect 43 cities (compared to 23 currently), serve ports and airports by rail and boost economic development and mobility. Currently, the kingdom has only one high-speed line connecting Tangier to Casablanca. As part of this project, Morocco plans to build two new lines: from Tangier to Agadir, along the Atlantic coast, and from Casablanca to Oujda via Fez, Mohamed Abdeljalil, the Minister of Transport and Logistics, recently announced during an intervention in parliament.

According to a socio-economic feasibility study, the connection of Fez to the high-speed network requires an investment of 23 billion dirhams, the minister said, highlighting the benefits of this connection which would reduce the travel time between Fez and Casablanca from two hours and fifty minutes to one hour less after the completion of the Kenitra-Marrakech line. The cost of the project is estimated at 400 billion dirhams, announced the government member who recommends diversifying the sources of financing and studying all possible options: international loans, public-private partnerships, financing from the national budget...

At the current stage, the feasibility of the project is still under study, stressed Mohamed Abdeljalil, adding that the government has not yet approved this project and that many technical and administrative studies remain to be carried out.