The Moroccan Monarch, King Mohammed VI and French President, Macron inaugurated, Thursday in Tangier, the "Al BORAQ" High Speed Train linking the cities of Tangier and Casablanca. "Al BORAQ" is the first of its kind in the Maghreb, Middle East and throughout the African continent. The total investments for the project totaled over 4 billion AZN.

The "Al BORAQ" High Speed Train is said to be the first stage of the master plan for the development of the network of lines for high-speed trains in Morocco (TGVM), with the objective of responding to the evolution of mobility within the North African Kingdom.

The High Speed Line connects Tangier to Casablanca, two major economic centers of the country. The gain in time will be considerable as travel times are substantially reduced to 50mn instead of 3h15mn for the Tangier-Kenitra trip, 1h20mn instead of 3h45mn for Tangier- Rabat, and 2h10mn instead of 4h45mn for Tangier- Casablanca.

In addition, the Tangier-Casablanca High Speed Line brings cities closer together and speeds up mobility between the two metropolitan areas, increases the number of passengers from 3 to over 6 million in the third year of operation, and improves road safety and environmental protection.

It will also contribute to freeing up capacity for freight transport induced in particular by the economic and industrial activity of the Tangier Med Port, one of the largest in the Mediterranean. National expertise and know-how will develop, promoting the transfer of skills and initiating the development of a local rail ecosystem that will have a regional or even continental impact.

During the implementation phase, this project allowed the creation of 30 million days of direct and indirect employment, while in the exploitation phase, the Moroccan TGV is expected to generate 1,500 direct and 800 indirect jobs.

The achievement of this project has involved an intelligent Moroccan-French partnership, an appropriate transfer of know-how, ingenious engineering and advanced technical skills. It is a viable economic model based on an appropriate financial package, frugality of investment resulting from the involvement of local companies, optimized pricing, as well as rationalized operating costs.

A professional railway school, Institut de Formation Ferroviaire (IFF) was also created to train railway workers from Morocco, France and other countries in the region. A joint venture was also established between the Moroccan railway company, ONCF and its French counterpart, SNCF for the maintenance of high-speed trains, while allowing ONCF to gradually develop its skills in this field.