Rabat- The National Office of Railways (ONCF) announced that stations of the High-Speed Train, or LGV, will begin to operate this summer.
The ONCF Board of Directors, conducted a follow-up on the construction of what are set to become Morocco’s largest future railway stations during a Board of Directors meeting chaired by Minister of Equipment and Transport Transport Abdelkader Amara on Tuesday, which was also attended by the wali of the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra region.
Among these sites, the Rabat-Agdal station, which is erected on 22,000 square-meter area, will eventually accommodate nearly 30 million passengers per year by 2025. The site has already completed 70 percent of the construction project, as of the end of February.
According to a press release from ONCF, the work of the station, which is set to become “Africa’s largest railway station, should be completed by the summer.”
As for the Casa-Voyageurs train station, which is spread over an area of 10,000 square meters, it will accommodate 20 million passengers per year by 2025.
For its part, the Casa-Voyageurs train station has currently completed 80 percent of the construction work, before its official launch next summer.
“Morocco takes part in a development dynamic related to the reinforcement of transport infrastructure of all modes, given the policy of major projects. This dynamic transformation also concerns the railway sector,” the Minister of Equipment and Transport said during his speech at the ONCF board meeting.
ONCF also announced its intention to achieve a turnover of nearly MAD 4 billion for the year 2018.
The high speed train is the first of its kind in Africa, linking Tangier to Kenitra in only 1.5 hours. The train services will be expanded to connect Tangier to Casablanca in a period of 2 hours and 10 minutes instead of the current trip’s five hour minimum.
According to the company, the LGV project is in the process of passing the last inspections, before moving on to the final organizational phase prior to its launch.
The High-Speed Train project was launched by King Mohammed VI and the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in September 2011.
Morocco, France, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE all contributed funds for the high speed train project, totaling approximately USD 2 billion for the new trains, new tracks, improved signaling technology, and upgraded train station platforms.
