Rabat – The last tests on the operation of the High Speed Train Line (LGV) will take place February 2018, in preparation for its commercial launch in the summer of 2018, announced the ONCF.
The LGV connecting Tangier to Casablanca in February 2018 will be connected through two lanes and will see the terminal installations and the connections at the stations, before its launch in summer 2018.
The entire LGV system will run in phases in pre-operation mode, before receiving its certifications, the final step for commercial commissioning, reported the Maghreb Arab Press agency (MAP).
The first tests, carried out in February and March 2017 , ran through over forty kilometers from Kenitra, verifying the running of the train on ground.
The second phase of these dynamic tests, which began in September, consisted in testing the rolling stock in all possible configurations, says the ONCF, explaining that these tests, carried out on several kilometers of the new LGV line, with successive increases in speed, have affirmed that the line is suitable for circulation at 320 kilometers per hour.
The high speed train is the first of its kind in Africa. It will link Tangier to Kenitra in only 1:30 hour. In the future, the LGV will connect Tangier to Casablanca in 2:10 hours instead of five hours on the current train.
When the project was launched by King Mohammed VI and the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in September 2011, the operation of the high speed train was scheduled for December 2015. This was later postponed to 2017 because of delays in the infrastructure work.
Morocco, France, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE, are funding the LGV’s at USD 2 billion for new trains and tracks.
The country received delivery of the first carriage for the LGV in July 2015. In September, the second fleets of the TGV arrived at the Port of Tangier Med.
