Morocco to Undertake one Last Test in Feb 2018 before Launch of Africa’s First TGV

Africa’s first high speed train will be launched in Morocco in 2018 after conducting one last test next February, state-owned railway operator ONCF said.

The latest tests were staged successfully at a speed of 320 km per hour earlier this week, ONCF said in a statement.

The over 2 billion-dollar project has been in development for a decade, financed by numerous partners, including France, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

The TGV has set the target of transporting 6 million passengers a year with departures every hour from Casablanca and Tangier, with the aim to achieve an average occupancy rate of 70%.

Morocco bought 12 high-speed trains from France’ s train manufacturer, Alstom. The trains will operate at 320km/h on the high-speed line to achieve a Tangiers – Casablanca journey time of 2h 10min, instead of 4h 45min today.