Rabat – Construction of Morocco’s new high speed train, better known as the TGV, which links Tangier to Casablanca, will be completed in the summer of 2018, according to Rabie Khlie, the Head of the National Office of Railroads (ONCF).
While speaking at the opening of the Sixth Annual International Conference on “Security and Safety of Rail Activity,” Khlie said that currently the new line between Casablanca and Tangier is about 86 percent finished.
The line will connect the two cities in only two hours and 10 minutes instead of the current five-hour train journey,at a speed of 320 kilometers per hour. It also passes through the city of Kenitra, with the trip to Rabat from Tangier taking only one hour and 20 minutes, said Khlie.
Khlie said that the conference is an opportunity to bring international experts together in order to share their experience in the field of “rail and its effective safety.”
In March, The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) granted a loan of MAD 1.23 billion to the ONCF.
The proceeds from the loan will permit ONCF to proceed with the construction of stations for TGV, believed to be the first one to operate in Africa.
Morocco, France, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE, are funding the TGV’s $2 billion investment for new trains and tracks.
Morocco received delivery of the first carriage for the TGV in July 2015. In September, the second fleets of the TGV arrived at the Port of Tangier Med.
