La RAN sigue dando sus frutos: el túnel que unirá a Marruecos y España

With the expedition that travelled to Morocco for the High Level Meeting (HLM) having just landed in Spain, relations between Madrid and Rabat are already showing clear signs of strengthening. One of the first, although not a novelty, would be an important advance, not only for the two countries, but also for the connection between Europe and the African continent. Work is underway on a project that would link the Iberian peninsula and Morocco via a 42-kilometre-long tunnel.
 
This is not a new initiative, as the first contacts to link the two territories took place more than four decades ago, in 1979, through a "Scientific and Technical Cooperation" treaty. At that time, the possibility of building a bridge was studied, although the complexity of the bridge diverted the line of thought to a tunnel, which now seems closer than ever to becoming a reality. The example of the one linking France and the UK serves as a model for a project that has been given a major boost by last week's HLM in Rabat.

Raquel Sánchez, Minister for Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, explained that the so-called Fixed Link Project for the Strait of Gibraltar is a "strategic project for Spain and Morocco, and also for Europe and Africa". In fact, the General State Budget for this year already included an allocation of 750,000 euros for the Spanish Society of Studies for Fixed Communication through the Strait of Gibraltar (Secegsa) for the analysis of this connection, which would constitute the first step of the initiative.
 
In addition, the German company Herrenknetch, the world's largest tunnel manufacturer, would be responsible for carrying out a study on the feasibility of the project. Five years ago, the German firm was already involved in another study carried out jointly with the University of Zurich, which analysed the possibility of building a tunnel linking Tarifa and Tangiers.

Although everything surrounding the tunnel that would link Spain and Morocco is only an idea that has not been put down on paper, some of the characteristics of the infrastructure are known. It would be a 42-kilometre-long tunnel, of which 27.8 kilometres would be underwater, with a railway line of shuttle trains to transport passengers and goods. According to La Razón newspaper, the route could connect Punta Paloma (Cádiz) and Punta Malabata (ten kilometres east of Tangier), and the first phase would be limited to a single monotube tunnel through which trains would run in both directions, to later have two one-way tunnels.