MOROCCAN ENGINEERS READY TO TEST FASTEST TRAIN IN AFRICA

50% of the fastest train project  in Africa was financed by the french and it is ready to slash journey time.

Morocco country’s rail office said on Monday that engineers in there country is preparing to test the Africa world’s first high speed railway this week with trains reaching  320 kilometres (200 miles) per hour.

The ONCF said that on monday along a stretch of track between the northern cities of kenitra and Tangier, one train reached 275 kph (170 mph) .

According to France Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drain who was in morocco to sign a loan deal between the French Development Agency and the ONCF, ”This is already the fastest train on the African continent”.

The Minister said the railway was “emblematic of the Franco- Moroccan bilateral relationship”.

The  link between Casablanca and Tangiers which is 350km via the capital Rabat will slash journey times between the North African country’s economic hubs by almost two thirds,from five hours and 45 minutes to just over two hours.

The trains which is called Morocco’s TGV is gotten from the French abbreviation for high-speed trains, it is set to start operating in summer 2018.

The french financed 50% of the project with the loans around $2.4 billion (2 billion euros).

According to figures released on Monday, the project is set to go around 15% over budget.

But according to the estimate of ONCF head, Rabii Lakhlii  the project had cost “less than 9 million euros per kilometre, compared to a European standard of 20 million euros per kilometre”.

Due to the hilly terrain and strong winds, the route was complex and required buildingof several viaducts including one about 3.5km long.

The ONCF expects the line to attract six million travellers within its first three years.

According to ONCF head, tickets would cost about 30 per cent more than those for the current rail link.

Moroccan leaders valued the project as a key step in modernising the country’s infrastructure.

But opponents have criticised it, saying  that the money could have been spent in a country with high rate of poverty.

 

 

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