MOROCCO IS ACCELERATING! feature - Alstom

The ONCF runs
ever faster
In 2009, the Offi ce national
des chemins de fer du Maroc
transported 29.6 million passengers
– twice as many as in 2002 –
and 29 million tons of goods.
This is the result of an 18 billion DH
(€1.5 billion) fi ve-year investment
programme to reinforce and
modernise the network, renovate
equipment and modernise stations.
The operator is preparing to double
the stakes under a new fi ve-year
contract signed with the State
to transport 50 million passengers
in 2015 and as many tons of freight.
32.8 billion DH (€2.7 billion) will be
allocated to launch major projects
such as the LGV Tangiers-
Casablanca. This policy of continuous
progress, led by Mohamed Rabie
Khlie, the ONCF’s Managing Director,
assisted by a team of enthusiastic
young managers trained at the SNCF*
school, has radically changed
the operator’s image in the eyes of
its users (ref. interview page 17).
The ONCF inventory of rolling stock:
• 117 line locomotives (passenger and
goods) and 72 shunting locomotives
• 14 electric multiple units comprised
of three single-decker cars
• 24 recent double deck electric
multiple units (400 seats)
• 372 passenger cars
• 6,040 goods wagons. Maintenance
of electric traction equipment
is carried out at the Casablanca
workshop and diesel equipment
at the Meknes workshop.
The Marrakech, Oujda, Sidi Kacem,
Rabat and Fes depots perform
everyday maintenance.
* SNCF: French national railways.
Casablanca-Kenitra, Casablanca-El Jadida
and Fes-Sidi-Kacem, while at the same time
services were reinforced between these major
cities. In the North, new services are opening
up the business zone of Tangiers-Tetouan,
with intermodal hubs to favour freight and
improved passenger services. 45 km of track
between Tangiers and Port Tanger Med now
connect this vast port complex to the city’s
airport and to the national rail network.
The new Taourit-Nador line – 110 km and
7 stations – serves various industrial units.
At the same time, electrifi cation works and
the creation of 45 km of shortcuts on
the Tangiers-Casablanca line have made
it possible to reduce the journey time between
the two cities from 5 hours 45 minutes
to 4 hours 10 minutes. 24 trains each day
– compared with 10 previously – provide
services from Tangiers to various Moroccan
cities. 80 km of track are also being planned
to connect Saidia to the national network,
via Nador.
On mainlines, the ONCF has increased
the capacity of its fl eet, with 24 double-decker
electric railcars each with 400 seats.
Punctuality has been improved. The operator
has also built 20 new stations and
renovated 40 existing stations, including
those of Marrakech and Casa Voyageurs,
inaugurated in 2008. This renovation
enhances traditional station architecture
while equally proposing modern services
in ‘rail centres’, vast shopping malls which will
soon be equipped with Wi-Fi. An improved
marketing and sales strategy now offers
through trains on certain lines and adapts
frequencies to passengers’ needs. The ONCF
is also offering rail passes for the young,
the elderly, tourists and Moroccans living
abroad. Lastly, it has chosen a yield
management system introducing different
prices for peak times, line frequentation,
and so on… Through this very innovative
policy, it is strengthening the social utility
of this mode of transport whilst also
encouraging greater mobility for rural
populations, who used to travel only
�
Alstom Transport in Morocco
40 years presence, 100 employees
Main rolling stock contracts:
1999: 27 electric locomotives.
2007: 20 new generation Prima electric
locomotives for freight and passenger
transport. First deliveries in 2010.
2007: 22 Citadis double trainsets
for the Rabat-Sale tramway put into
service in 2011.
2009: 74 Citadis trams for
the Casablanca tramway; entry
into service planned for 2012.
2010: 14 TGV Duplex trainsets
for the fi rst section of the LGV
Tangiers-Casablanca.
Main contracts to improve
the network:
Modernising signalling on 800 km
(Sidi El Aidi-Marrakech
and Kenitra-Oujda lines) of track and at
60 stations, including Casablanca.
Doubling track on the Fes-Meknes line.
Partnerships signed
with engineering and technical
universities in Morocco to support
training for rail professions:
Since autumn 2010, two Moroccan
engineering students have benefi tted
from a 20,000 euro grant from Alstom
to attend, in alternation with practical
work experience on its sites,
the ‘Rail Master’ programme created
by the École nationale
des Ponts et Chaussées and
the Université de Valenciennes.
Projects are also in progress with
the École Hassania de Travaux publics
(EHTP) in Casablanca, the École
Mohammadia d’ingénieurs (EMI)
and the École nationale supérieure
d’enseignement technique (ENSET)
in Rabat.
13