The TGV moves up a gear in Morocco. Morocco's Office National des Chemins de Fer (ONCF) has just ordered 18 Avelia Horizon high-speed trains from French manufacturer Alstom as part of the extension of its high-speed line (LGV). to Marrakech. This will allow travel between Tangiers and the Red City in 2 hours 45 minutes, as well as from Tangiers to Rabat in 1 hour, from Tangiers to Casablanca in 1 hour 35 minutes and from Rabat to Casablanca in 35 minutes.
This extension of the high-speed line from Kenitra to Marrakesh is scheduled to enter service in 2010. in service by 2030In the run-up to the Football World Cup. Several stations will be created temporarily or permanently near the stadiums used for this sporting event, organised jointly with Spain and Portugal. Other TGV stations are planned, including one connected to Casablanca's Mohammed V airport and the other in Marrakech in the Palmeraie, a major hotel zone in the Moroccan tourist city.
A project funded by the French government
Inaugurated at the end of 2018, the LGV Maroc remains the first high-speed rail line on the African continent. Nearly 200 km long, it currently links Tangiers to Kenitra and allows passengers to travel to Casablanca via Rabat in 2 hours 10 minutes, compared with 4 hours 45 minutes before it was built. This means that business travellers can make the round trip in a day. The construction cost was more than 2 billion euros, 51% of which was financed by the French government. The SNCF group also provided a 360° service for the project, covering the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the line through the gradual training of local teams.
With a capacity of 640, the 18 TGV Avelia Horizon The double-decker trains ordered, worth €781m, are being financed by a new loan from France to the Kingdom of Morocco. " This exceptional amount of financing confirms the formidable Franco-Moroccan rail partnership, which has already led to the huge success of the high-speed line between Tangiers and Kenitra, which carried almost 5 million passengers in 2024." said Christophe Lecourtier, France's ambassador to Morocco, in a statement.
A high-speed line planned as far as Agadir
However, the extension of the high-speed line to Marrakech is only a possibility.a stage in this vast rail project A third section is planned for 2040, extending the line from Marrakech to the seaside resort of Agadir via the port city of Essaouira. The journey on the entire high-speed line between Tangiers in the north and Agadir in the south will then take around 4 hours. The branch line will be built at Marrakech-Palmeraie station.
