With the debut of the new route from Tangier to Kénitra and an elevation of the current route from Kénitra to Casablanca, Africa's first high-speed train comes to Morocco for an initial speed test. The Casablanca-Tangier high-speed rail line is set to be opened to public use in 2018.
The newest TGV French-made trains is expected to reach a speed of 200 miles per hour, the fastest among any other trains currently operational in Africa. The cost of this project already reached $2 billion and is subsidized by different countries including France, Morocco, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, CNN reports.
The current travel time from Tangier to Casablanca is almost four hours. However, a ride with the new high-speed travel train will only take a matter of two hours to reach the other end of the rail line.
The port of Tangier in Morocco is an entry point for land or sea-based carriages and vehicles Mediterranean countries including Italy and Spain. As of the moment, the developers are yet to announce the exact date in 2018 when these trains will be officially open for use. But ONCF, a national rail operator in Morocco, says that once the high-speed trains begin its operations, six million passengers are expected to be accommodated for the next year.
Despite the negative claims of the entities opposing the high-speed train project, the government of Morocco and King Mohammed VI still anticipate that the launching of this new route will bring prosperity and boost the reputation of their country. The government also stresses that despite the attention given to the high-speed train project, they are still exerting efforts to entice foreign investors and ncrease the business opportunities in the country.
In an exclusive interview with Le Monde, the Director General of National Rail Operator ONCF, Rabie Khlie, said: "We will run trains intended for Moroccans and thus adapted to the purchasing power of Moroccans. The ONCF business model is based on the French model in which trains are heavily subsidized. If the number of passengers does not materialize in two to three years, the government will have to provide subsidies."
With this project, the Moroccan government also looks forward to encouraging more investments and opportunities in regions along the route from Tangier to Kénitra and Kénitra to Casablanca. Regardless of the oppositions to the project, the launching of this new route to Morocco is practically impossible to halt.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
