KING Mohammed VI of Morocco, together with French president Mr Nicholas Sarkozy and Prince Megrin Ben Adbulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, were present today at the launch of construction on Morocco's first high-speed line. The 200km line will link Tangier with Kénitra and will have a design speed of 350km/h and a maximum operating speed of 320km/h.

The Dirhams 20bn ($US 2.54bn) project involves construction and fitting out of the line and the depot, and acquisition of the rolling stock. Morocco will contribute Dirhams 800m a year to the project. France, as the main financial and technical partner, will contribute Euros 920m. Other funding will come from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, and Fades.

 

Moroccan National Railways (ONCF) will also upgrade the existing line between Kénitra and Casablanca to reduce the journey time between Tangier and Casablanca from 3h 40min today to 2h 20min when the project is completed in 2015. ONCF expects traffic to increase from 52 million journeys at present to 133 million once the high-speed service is fully operational.