First African high speed rail line

[Deleted]

On February 1st, the construction of the first high speed rail line in Africa was confirmed. It will run from Casablanca to Tangiers in Morocco. The first section that will be completed will be between Rabat and Tangiers in 2015, and the trip will last 1h20 instead of 3h55 at the moment. The speed will be 320 km/h on the new line. The final rail section to Casablanca will just be” improved” in the first phase, and the trains will only go 180 km/h until the new line is completed. This will make the trip last 2h10 instead of 4h45 today. Once the full line is completed, the trip from Tangiers to Casablanca will only take 1h30.

In the longer term (2030-2035), there are plans to extend the line to Agadir via Marrakesh, and also in the direction of Algeria via Fez and Meknès.

According to the “socio-economic index” which measures travel time saved, reduced carbon emissions and reduced road accidents, the high speed train has a positive rating of +12.6% compared to +5% for French high speed trains – which is normal, since the infrastructure in Morocco needs a lot more upgrading than Europe.

The first order of trains has been placed for 14 full sets of two-level cars and locomotives, with 500 seats per train.

I think it’s nice to see this happening in Africa, while a lot of more developed countries are still hemming and hawing about whether they finally want to take the plunge or not.

[bixaorellana]

But Kerouac ~~ what about slow travel?!

[Deleted]

I'd like to ride on it.

[spindrift]

I wouldn't!

[Deleted]

Feb 9, 2010 15:38:43 GMT bixaorellana said:

But Kerouac ~~ what about slow travel?!

There's a difference between travel and commuting. At the moment, the fastest rail line in the world is in China, the rail speed record is still held by France (in tests on the TGV-Est at something like 586 km/h), and this year Spain will become the country with the longest distance of high speed rail lines.

[bixaorellana]

Those are surprising statistics to me, since I associate Japan with the bullet trains. I've only been on the uncomfortable little speedy trains in airports. Is it nicer on commuting trains such as the ones in France, with less consciousness of accelerating and decelerating?

[Deleted]

Japan is famous as the first country that had bullet trains, which inspired the others.

On the French trains, even the non high speed ones, you often can hardly feel the train move at all, because the rails are welded into segments that are several kilometers long. So there is none of the clickety-clack with which trains used to be associated.

One thing that is somewhat disappointing is that there is no sensation of speed except when you are on a segment that is parallel to a freeway (which is pretty common because that often simplified the purchase of the right of way), because when you zip past the cars that are driving at 130 km/h, they look like they are standing still.

[lagatta]

Yes, it is pretty much utterly smooth.

Actually faster trains are good for "slow travel" because they mean less need for air travel. But can the dedicated TGV type tracks also be used for slower local trains with more stops?

[Deleted]

Yes, but that would prevent optimal use of the high speed rails, which need a lot of traffic to make them worthwhile. Slow trains remain on the historic old tracks.

[spindrift]

My eyes don't see objects as standing still (when I'm on a shinkansen....I try not to look out of the windows because if I do so then I'll feel sick.

[Deleted]

It's go to be better then a camel though, no?

[Deleted]

Or those bouncy buses with dead suspension.

[Deleted]

Oh for sure! I had to ride on one of those buses in India one time. Really hard.

[Deleted]

It looks like they continue to hope that the bridge/tunnel to Europe will be built some day and the train will go to it. The project comes up about every three years.

[gertie]

One has to wonder if they get a pretty good line going whether or no it might not eventually happen. Right now with no further high speed service, it seems a little useless to build the bridge, but it does seem like if it led to something demonstrated there might be more support.