Rabat - Morocco inaugurated on Thursday
Africa's fastest train which will halve travelling time between
the commercial and industrial hubs of Casablanca and Tangier.
After seven years of work on the high-speed railway line,
King Mohammed VI and French President Emmanuel Macron boarded
the train for the inaugural trip from Tangier to the capital
Rabat.
The train, which was tested at a speed of 357km (222
miles) per hour and is planned to run at 320km/h, will more than halve the 200km Casablanca-Tangier journey to around two hours. It is
about twice as fast as South Africa's high-speed Gautrain
linking Johannesburg's international airport to the city's
financial district Sandton.
The high-speed line was completed at a total cost of 22.9
billion dirhams ($2.4 billion), according to state news agency
MAP. Transport officials were not immediately available for
comment.
Morocco bought 12 double-decker high-speed-trains from
French group Alstom that will be operated by
state-owned railway ONCF which expects six million passengers on
the new train service annually.
Officials have said the project will boost growth in Tangier
and help attract more investments to northern Morocco where one
of Africa’s largest ports is located.
But critics perceive the project as symbolising a two-speed
Morocco further accentuating disparities between territories as
vast regions in the south and key cities such as Agadir remain
without a basic train service.
A train derailment last month near Kenitra 15km north of Rabat, which killed seven people and injured 125
others, triggered calls for a better allocation of resources by
giving priority to improving safety and infrastructure as well
as punctuality of basic railway services.