MOROCCO IS ACCELERATING! feature - Alstom

In partnership with our suppliers and partners
it will boost the entire Moroccan industrial
base, and in particular SMEs. It will favour
the development of national expertise
in the rail sector and the sector’s export,
as well as technology and technical transfer.
In this way, the high-speed train will make
a remarkable contribution to Morocco’s
positioning as a regional industrial platform
and favour the emergence of viable and
sustainable economic activities whose
infl uence will extend beyond our frontiers.
Is this strategic choice being made
to the detriment of other national rail sectors
and regional services?
No, on the contrary. The contract-programme
2005-2009 signed between the ONCF
and the State already allocated an investment
of about €1.7 billion to modernise the conven-
tional network and improve its capacity.
The target was met. The initial operating
objectives set under the contract-programme
have been considerably exceeded:
the ONCF accomplished average annual sales
of 250 million euros compared with the budg-
eted 225 million euros, with an operating
result of more than 70 million euros, compared
with an expected 44 million euros. Our
self-fi nancing capacity has notably exceeded
the level initially set.
Encouraged by these results, the ONCF
has recently signed a new contract with
the state authorities for the period 2010-2015.
This includes an investment programme
of nearly 3 billion euros, with 1.8 billion euros
allocated for the high-speed train and
1.2 billion euros for the development and
modernisation of conventional lines. We will
in this way be able to reinforce capacity on
certain priority routes: tripling track between
Casablanca and Kenitra, partial doubling
between Settat and Marrakech, electrifi cation
and modernisation for the Fes-Oujda line.
Not to mention deploying logistics platforms,
continuing to modernise stations and
to update safety and signalling systems
to make them compliant.
I would like to make one fi nal point,
more fundamental than it may appear.
What we are developing with very high
speed in terms of management expertise,
commercial know-how and project
management techniques will benefi t
all our other projects. Very high speed will
permit a major development of all services
offered, both upstream and downstream
of the journey, and will be a vehicle
for our ambition to provide quality for all our
customers, without exception. The station
renovation we have begun is an excellent
example of this. Stations will become hubs.
Everything is being conceived to favour
intelligent complementarity, the key
to intermodality: easy access car parking,
nearby taxi ranks and bus terminals and,
of course, a large number of connections
with urban and suburban rail services.
Does the intermodality you mentioned
include the many urban and
suburban projects currently in progress?
Indeed! In general, we are convinced
that enhanced access for users at each
link of the transport chain favours
the competitiveness of the entire rail sector.
For instance, the tramway stations at
Casablanca and Rabat were specifi cally
sited to be close to the railway stations,
thereby facilitating passenger transfers
and fl ows. Another example of this policy:
a major consultation was held with all
stakeholders – State, cities, local authorities,
ONCF… – to build suburban services
similar to the RER in the two urban areas.
There is a marked priority for Casablanca,
which should receive a 63 km line
for a total investment estimated at about
900 million euros.
These structural projects will only be entirely
successful, however, if they are part
of a true multimodal system, with a global
transport plan that is both consistent and
standardised. The administrative and fi nancial
arrangements are progressing and the ONCF
will be providing its know-how-for their
implementation, operation and harmonious
integration.
The Rabat station clock.
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