MOROCCO IS ACCELERATING! feature - Alstom

Only roads and planes can access the tourist
sites of Essaouira, Ouarzazate and Agadir
or even make it possible to penetrate
the immense Sahara. The construction work
on a 954 km ‘line of unity’, between
Marrakech, Agadir and Laayoune, has come
to nothing.
The Moroccan network serves both
passenger and freight transport, with
the exception of a track in the north-east,
between Oujda and Bouarfa, specifi cally
dedicated to phosphate convoys,
the Kingdom’s most important industrial
asset. For nearly forty years, a few specifi c
events contributed to the development of
trade in this precious mineral and to meeting
Moroccans’ requirements for mobility
between the country’s political and economic
centres. The Benguérir-Youssoufi a-Safi line
was electrifi ed between 1982 and1984.
The construction of 102 kilometres of track
between Nouaceur and Jorf Lasfar provided
a new shipping outlet for phosphate from
1987 onwards. In 1984, the ‘Aouita’, the Train
Navette Rapide (TNR) entered into service
When a train writes history…
*Epic: Industrial and commercial state company.
Marrakech station.
on the Casablanca Port-Rabat Ville line,
connecting the two cities in under an hour.
Ten years later, it was extended as far
as Sale and then Kenitra. In 1995,
the fi rst air-conditioned electric rail cars
appeared on this successful line,
a concept which the ONCF repeated
for the Casablanca-Mohammed V
Airport service.
It was the whistle blasts of one of the fi rst steam locomotives in operation in Morocco which, in 1907,
were to turn the Kingdom’s modern history upside down. The little French Decauville served to transport,
from a nearby quarry, the heavy stones needed to build the port of Casablanca. In a troubled political
climate, its work stirred up the discontent, or even fury of the population: It disturbed the dead resting
in the Muslim cemetery of Sidi Belyou that it passed. Eight European workers were assassinated,
Casablanca occupied and the Protectorate declared soon after.
In 1910, two small mining lines entered service. From 1916 onwards one of the most extensive narrow
gauge (600 mm) networks in the world was developed with 1,200 km of lines. This was rapidly converted
to standard gauge (1,435 mm). Three private franchises, the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Maroc
(CFM), the Compagnie du chemin de fer du Maroc oriental (CMO) and the Compagnie franco-espagnole
du chemin de fer de Tanger à Fès (TF) shared the network’s operation from 1923 onwards. A fi rst line
was electrifi ed four years later, steam traction turning out to be unsuited to the climate. This slow
modernisation continued until the eve of the Second World War. The Anglo-American landing in North Africa
on 8 November 1942 led to intensive use of the network for military operations. After the confl ict,
the general conversion of rolling stock to diesel was intensifi ed, leading to the disappearance of the last
steam locomotives. When Morocco was granted independence, in 1956, it inherited a network which was
relatively modern and in good condition. In 1963, the government bought the three private franchises
to create the Offi ce national des chemins de fer du Maroc (ONCF), an Epic* placed under the supervision
of the Ministry of Equipment and Transport. A new era was beginning…
�
Morocco in a few
fi gures (2009)
Area of 710,000 km 2
31,4 million inhabitants, 54%
of whom are under 25 years old.
GNP of 65 billion euros (2, 070 euros
per inhabitant), 61% of which is
contributed by services (manufactured
products and tourism), 22%
by industry (phosphate mines and
canning) and 17% by agriculture.
Growth rate: 5.2%.
Unemployment rate: 9.1%.
Demographic sources: UNFPA/ PNUD;
economic: DG European Union Treasury.
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