Kenitra–Marrakech: MAD 53bn line inside a MAD 96bn rail plan

Lire en français : La LGV de 53 milliards de dirhams mettra Marrakech à 1 h 40 de Rabat

Morocco's high-speed line from Kenitra to Marrakech is budgeted at MAD 53bn excluding trains, within a MAD 96bn rail programme launched by King Mohammed VI in April 2025. About a third of the work was done by late May 2026, with services due in 2029.

The 430 km line, designed for 350 km/h, will extend the Tangier–Kenitra Al Boraq route south through Rabat and Casablanca to Marrakech. King Mohammed VI launched the works at Rabat-Agdal station on 24 April 2025. According to the official figures released that day by the MAP news agency, the infrastructure costs MAD 53bn, excluding rolling stock. The wider programme totals MAD 96bn: MAD 29bn for 168 trains and MAD 14bn to keep the existing network performing.

An earlier version of this article put the project at MAD 67bn. That number adds the line to the network upkeep budget but leaves out the trains, and is not a cost quoted by the government or ONCF. On the official figure, the new line works out at roughly MAD 123m per kilometre, before signalling choices are fully known.

The time savings are the selling point. MAP gives Tangier–Marrakech in 2 hours 40 minutes, Rabat to Casablanca's Mohammed V airport in 35 minutes and Fez–Marrakech in 3 hours 40 minutes. The airport branch also gets a stop for the new stadium at Benslimane.

Trains ordered from three makers

Most of the MAD 29bn fleet budget is already committed. Alstom will supply 18 Avelia Horizon double-deck high-speed trains for 781 million euros, financed by the French Treasury, the company announced on 28 March 2025. Spain's CAF won 30 intercity trains for 200 km/h with ten options, worth about 600 million euros. South Korea's Hyundai Rotem was chosen for the suburban fleet.

Signalling is the least documented piece. ONCF estimated its signalling and telecoms tender at MAD 3.2bn, Le360 reported in March 2024, but none of the published documents states which ERTMS level the new line will use. At 350 km/h, drivers cannot read lineside signals, so movement authorities must be displayed in the cab whichever level is picked.

Civil works are moving. Transport Minister Abdessamad Kayouh told the House of Representatives on 25 May 2026 that the project was about 30% complete and would open in September 2029. The job involves some 20 million cubic metres of earthworks, 15 viaducts and three cut-and-cover sections near Casablanca airport, Zenata and Aïn Atiq, Finances News Hebdo reported in April. In Rabat, an SGTM–Sinohydro consortium is building a 3.3 km tunnel and cut-and-cover section for about MAD 1.4bn.

Passengers already feel the construction. Since 14 September 2026, under the second phase of ONCF's works timetable, Al Atlas trains between Marrakech and Tangier terminate at Kenitra and airport shuttles run from Casa Voyageurs. Morocco is also studying a fixed link with Spain, covered in our report on Gibraltar tunnel funding. The next milestone to watch is ONCF's signalling choice, which will settle the ERTMS level ahead of trial runs before the 2029 opening.

Sources: MAP via Médias24 (24/04/2025); Alstom (28/03/2025); CAF (26/02/2025); Le360 (27/03/2024); Hespress (25/05/2026); Le Matin (25/05/2026); Finances News Hebdo (24/04/2026); ONCF Voyages, works timetable (14/09/2026).

Photo: ONCF Al Boraq RGV 1208 at Casablanca Voyageurs station, May 2024. Matthias-Tf, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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