Morocco contracts for Alstom

Alstom has strengthened its long-term commitments to Morocco with rail and power contracts worth over €270m.

Alstom has signed an agreement with the Moroccan government for the design, manufacture, operation and maintenance of the high speed Tangier-Casablanca rail link. Negotiations to begin the project should be completed this year with the first phase between Tangier and Kenitra in operation by 2013. As part of the project, Alstom is scheduled to deliver 18 high speed Duplex double decker trains.

Passenger traffic on Moroccan railways has been rising by 10-15 per cent each year since 2004, and plans are underway to construct 1,500km of high speed rail lines capable of carrying 120 million travellers by 2030. The two routes, the ‘Atlantic Link’ running from Tangier through Marrakech to Agadir, and the ‘Maghreb Link’ running from Rabat through Fez to Oujda, plan to cut journey times and give Morocco the most advanced rail transport infrastructure in Africa, equalling French rail standards.