Marruecos tasa en 9.000 millones de euros el gasto necesario para ampliar su red ferroviaria

Convinced of Morocco's position in Africa and the Middle East in the field of high-speed railways, the International Union of Railways (UIC) has chosen the Kingdom of Morocco to host the 2023 edition of the UIC World Congress on high-speed railways. The 11th edition of the Congress, to be held from 7 to 10 March 2023 at the Marrakech Congress Centre in Morocco, under the auspices of the UIC and the ONCF, will bring together all the players in the world of high-speed rail. Within the framework of the World Congress of the International Union of Railways held in Marrakech, the Minister of Transport and Logistics, Mohamed Abdeljalil, announced during his speech that for the extension of more than 800 kilometres of the High Speed Network (LGV), the country will need an investment of nearly 100 billion dirhams.

"Today we have great ambitions to carry out the extension to the cities of Marrakech and Agadir, which requires the mobilisation of about 9 billion euros. This will result in a denser coverage of the Atlantic axis, bringing the LGV to more than 800 km. In a second step, we will focus on the east, Rabat, Casablanca and Oujda with large amounts of investment," he said. More than 1,500 participants are expected to attend this edition of the UIC World Congress on High Speed Rail in Marrakech: political decision-makers, transport authorities, railway companies and key players in intermodality, infrastructure managers, industrialists, financial institutions, customers, study and research institutes, universities, etc.

For his part, the director general of the National Office of Railways (ONCF), who shared the minister's proposals, went a step further, stating that the administration is seeking "the most appropriate and ingenious modernisation of the network, especially the one that connects Marrakech with the country's main cities". According to the magazine L'Economiste, the Congress was held to seek a solution that respects environmental and climate problems. The newspaper recalls that more than 3 billion passengers worldwide use LGV trains every year, and this growth is driven by the continuous expansion of the rail network and all the services associated with it. Worldwide, High Speed rail networks now cover more than 56,000 kilometres, or the equivalent of 4.3 times the diameter of the Earth. 

Moreover, with the growth of LGV lines increasing at a very high rate, the current number of kilometres is expected to double in the next 30 years. By adopting the slogan "High Speed Rail: the right speed for our planet", the Congress highlights the contribution of railways to solving climate problems and their role in spatial planning. "Countries are embarking on a path that is leading them to weave a network of networks that go beyond borders, which is a milestone for industrial and commercial relations between neighbouring states", specified this responsible for L'Economiste, pointing out all the benefits that this entails at all levels, tourist, economic, labour, industrial or commercial. 

The choice of the Kingdom as the venue for the Congress is no coincidence. If we exclude the networks of Europe, Japan and China, the most modern, most appropriate to the needs, most economical and most extensive LGV lines in the world are the Moroccan ones. This is why entities such as the UIC have set their sights on the North African country. Founded in 1922 with the aim of advancing towards the standardisation and improvement of systems for the construction and operation of interoperable railways, it currently has 201 members, including national railways and public transport companies. Moroccan progress is unstoppable. The Alawite kingdom is following in the footsteps of Western nations to improve the lives of its citizens and is becoming an increasingly modern and up-to-date country.

Since its inauguration in November 2018, Morocco's high-speed rail network has grown considerably. Today, Morocco has 2,110 km of rail transport network - the equivalent of 4% of the entire world - however, when it was inaugurated it was barely 330 km long. With this new plan, the ONCF, in conjunction with the country's central government, plans to reach more than 3,300 km of track by 2025 and more than 4,400 km by 2040. More than 40 cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants will be connected as well as 12 ports and 15 airports, equivalent to the annual movement of 132 million passengers. The growth will mean that 87% of the population will be served, compared to 51% today.