Rail transport in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

was initially developed during the protectorate. It functioned primarily as a means to mobilize colonial troops and to transport

natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

. Later, a

standard-gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

network was built.

First narrow-gauge lines

First 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) line

The first short

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter cur ...

in Morocco was a narrow-gauge line presented to the Sultan of Morocco in 1887 by the Belgian Government to connect his palace with his Jardin l'Agdal de

Meknes Meknes (, ) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th century by the Almoravid dynasty, Almoravids as a military settlement, Mekne ...

. With the railway came two coaches and one steam locomotive (Krauss 1744 / 1887 Ct-n2 ) delivered via F. Weidknecht, Paris. This move was done to improve the Belgian trade possibilities with the Sultan with hope to build railways in Morocco.

Narrow-gauge railways in former French Morocco

In 1907, the French ''

Compagnie Marocaine ''La Compagnie Marocaine'' (the Moroccan Company) was a French colonial holding company founded in 1902 for the purpose of exploiting Morocco. History In 1902, a group of industrialists led by Eugène Schneider II founded the Société des é ...

'' established a line connecting the

Port of Casablanca The Port of Casablanca ( , ) refers to the collective facilities and Dock (maritime), terminals that conduct maritime trade handling functions in Casablanca's harbours and which handle Casablanca's shipping. The port is located near Hassan II Mos ...

to a quarry in Roches Noires with a

Decauville Decauville () was a manufacturing company which was founded by Paul Decauville (1846–1922), a French pioneer in industrial railways. Decauville's major innovation was the use of ready-made sections of light, narrow-gauge track fastened to st ...

engine, though it was destroyed by tribesmen of the

Shawiya Shawiya, or Shawiya Berber, also spelt Chaouïa (native form: ''Tacawit'' ), is a Zenati Berber language spoken in Algeria by the Shawiya people. The language's primary speech area is the Awras Mountains in Eastern Algeria and the surrounding a ...

. The first major French-built narrow-gauge railway line in

was completed in 1908 with minimum-gauge track, which was later converted to narrow-gauge track. More lines utilizing gauge track followed. Beginning in 1912 and ending in 1935,

French Morocco The French protectorate in Morocco, also known as French Morocco, was the period of French colonial rule in Morocco that lasted from 1912 to 1956. The protectorate was officially established 30 March 1912, when Sultan Abd al-Hafid signed the ...

had one of the largest gauge networks in Africa with a total length of more than 1700 kilometres. After the treaty of Algeciras where the representatives of Great Powers agreed not to build any

railway in Morocco until the standard-gauge

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

–

Fes Fez () or Fes (; ) is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fez-Meknes administrative region. It is one of the largest cities in Morocco, with a population of 1.256 million, according to the 2024 census. Located to the nort ...

Railway being completed, the French begun to build military gauge lines in their part of Morocco. The 948 km

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

–

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

–

Kenitra Kenitra (, , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is a port on the Sebou River with a population of 507,736 as of 2024. It is one of the three main cities of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region and the capital of the similarly named Kénitra ...

–

Oujda Oujda (, ) is a major city in northeast Morocco near the Algeria–Morocco border, border with Algeria. Oujda is the capital city of the Oriental (Morocco), Oriental region of northeastern Morocco and has a population of 506,224 people (2024 censu ...

line became known as Chemins de fer strategiques du Maroc and the branch lines diverting from the line as Chemins de fer de penetration du Maroc. These lines were mostly built – with exception of

Guercif Guercif (Arabic: ڭرسيف) is a town and municipality in Guercif Province, Oriental, Morocco. It is the province's capital. According to the 2014 census the municipality had a population of 90,880 people living in 18,779 households. Nearby cit ...

– Outat Oulad el Hadj –

Midelt Midelt (Arabic: ميدلت) is a town in Morocco, in the high plains between the Middle Atlas and High Atlas mountain ranges. With a population of 55,304 recorded in the 2014 Moroccan census, Midelt serves as the commercial center of a large ag ...

, which was started in 1916 and completed in 1920 – during the period of 1921–1925.

Railways in former Spanish Morocco

There have been

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curv ...

railways which used

meter gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

, gauge, and gauge in former

Spanish Morocco The Spanish protectorate in Morocco was established on 27 November 1912 by a treaty between France and Spain that converted the Spanish sphere of influence in Morocco into a formal protectorate. The Spanish protectorate consisted of a norther ...

. A narrow-gauge railway was also constructed from Tetuan to Ceuta in 1913–1918 by CEC (Compañía Española de Colonización). It was handed over to the state-run FCM (Ferrocarrilles de Marruecos) in 1942 and closed in the aftermath of the Moroccan independence (1956).

Standard-gauge railways

Before the independence of

in 1956 four standard-gauge railways were built by individual companies. In 1963 all four were merged to form the

ONCF ONCF (from French: ''Office National des Chemins de Fer''; ''al-Maktab al-Waṭaniyy lis-Sikak al-Ḥadīdiyyah''; ''Moroccan National Railways Office'') is Morocco's national railway operator. ONCF is a state-owned company that is under the c ...

's current national railway operator.

Railways of Morocco

Railways of Morocco (French Compagnie des chemins de fer du Maroc (CFM) ) was established in 1920 and built two railway lines: *

and

Sidi Kacem Sidi Kacem () is a city in Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, Morocco. It is the capital of Sidi Kacem Province. History During the French period, the city was called Petitjean, in reference to a French captain who was killed in May 1911 during the "paci ...

, completed in 1925 *

railway, completed in 1936.

Franco-Spanish company of Tanger-Fès

From 1919 the Franco–Spanish company of Tanger–Fès (French: Compagnie Franco–espagnole du Tanger–Fès (TF) ) started construction of the 315 km

–

railway, out of which 18 km were in the International zone of Tangier, 93 km in the Spanish zone and 204 km in the French zone. The railway was finished in 1927.

Railway of Eastern Morocco

Railway of Eastern Morocco (French: Compagnie du chemin de fer du Maroc oriental (CMO) ) built the

–

Bouarfa, Morocco Bouarfa () is a city in Oriental Region, northeastern Morocco and the capital of Figuig Province The Figuig Province (Arabic: إقليم فكيك) is a province in the Oriental Region of Morocco. Its capital is Bouarfa. It recorded a populatio ...

railway which was completed in 1927.

Mediterranean–Niger-Railway

The Mediterranean-Niger-Railway (French: Chemins de Fer de la Méditerranée au Niger (MN) ) was built between the

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

region near Bou Arfa in the east of Morocco and the Algerian rail system at

, completed as

route between

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

and Oujda in 1922, while

was reached in 1934.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * *

External links

ONCF Official website

The Railways of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria {{Africa in topic, History of rail transport in fr:Transport ferroviaire au Maroc#Historique