chargement...
The construction of Morocco’s Kénitra-Marrakech high-speed rail line has reached 30% completion, Transport and Logistics Minister Abdessamad Kayouh said Monday in Rabat.
Speaking before the House of Representatives, Kayouh said the 430-kilometer line, estimated to cost 53 billion dirhams, forms part of a broader 96 billion dirham railway investment program led by ONCF, which also includes the acquisition of 168 new trains and upgrades to the existing high-speed network.
The minister said the project would significantly reduce travel times across the country. The journey between Tangier and Marrakech is expected to fall from nearly 6 hours and 30 minutes to 3 hours and 30 minutes, while the Rabat-Tangier trip will take one hour instead of the current 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Travel time between central Rabat and Mohammed V Airport will also be reduced to 35 minutes, while the trip between Casablanca airport station and central Marrakech will take less than 55 minutes.
Kayouh added that preliminary and execution studies for the second phase of the high-speed rail extension linking Marrakech to Agadir have already been completed. The project, estimated at around 55 billion dirhams, will largely involve tunnels and bridges crossing the High Atlas Mountains, which will account for nearly 70% of the works.
The minister also revealed that Morocco’s suburban «RER»-style rail project has likewise reached 30% completion. He said trains on the Rabat-Kénitra-Skhirate axis are expected to run every 10 minutes to help ease urban congestion.
Among other major projects, Kayouh highlighted plans for a new railway locomotive manufacturing and maintenance plant in Benguérir, with a local integration rate of around 62%, aimed at producing a new generation of locomotives using Moroccan expertise before eventually exporting them abroad.
