MOROCCO IS ACCELERATING! feature - Alstom
MOROCCO IS ACCELERATING! feature - Alstom
MOROCCO IS ACCELERATING! feature - Alstom
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
passengers and 36 million tons of goods<br />
each year. Throughout our corporate project<br />
Rihane 50 (Challenge 50), we have set<br />
ambitious objectives for 2015: to carry<br />
50 million passengers and 50 million tons<br />
of freight. To accomplish this we will have<br />
to meet fi ve major challenges: succeed<br />
in implementing very high-speed rail<br />
transportation, improve the competitiveness<br />
of our logistics, reinforce our position<br />
in the urban transport sector, develop rail’s<br />
position as a mode of sustainable mobility<br />
and modernise our infrastructure to adapt<br />
to international standards.<br />
These are all key challenges for building<br />
the Morocco of the future.<br />
You have recently been elected President<br />
of the African Assembly of the International<br />
Union of Railways. What do you plan to do<br />
to promote rail in sub-Saharan Africa?<br />
The continent’s rail network has 80,000 km<br />
of track. This is an extremely low density,<br />
about 2.7 km/1,000 km 2 . In addition,<br />
about twenty African countries do not have<br />
any rail network at all. Africa will therefore<br />
have to accelerate the modernisation<br />
and development of its infrastructures<br />
to meet the growing mobility needs of<br />
its populations and the growing expectations<br />
of economic operators who have ever<br />
increasing demands, in terms of service,<br />
safety and competitiveness.<br />
This is the context in which we are working,<br />
on the basis of a concrete short-term<br />
plan of action, focusing on increasing<br />
awareness of the importance of developing<br />
rail throughout our continent, organising<br />
training sessions to improve the competences<br />
of human resources and sharing network<br />
know-how.<br />
21