On 29 March 2014, His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco, God be with him, presided over the opening ceremony of the new railway station at the Intermodal and Business Hub located within the port of Tanger-Med, Tangier.
The project is part of work to develop the national rail network, and is intended to further ONCF’s ‘proximity policy’ of supplementing the development taking place on the northern coast of Morocco as well as keeping pace with the increase in travel between the city of Tangier and the port of Tanger-Med. It should also serve to better meet the growing demand for passenger transport through a focus on providing services that run more smoothly, frequently and punctually.
The new ‘Port Tanger-Med’ station, located in the Intermodal and Business Hub, has been designed with practicality and functionality in mind as part of a wider development of passenger facilities. In order to provide passengers with the most convenient service possible, a maximum of amenities have been included, such as ticket offices, credit card terminals, automatic ticket machines and a kiosk.
Tanger-Med is now connected to the railway network by eight daily shuttle services that link the port to Tanger-Ville, Tangier’s central station. This will increase to 16 trains every day as traffic increases.
The new facility is part of ONCF’s efforts to tailor its services as closely as possible to the changing needs of their various customers - commuters, port complex employees, Moroccans resident abroad and tourists.
Providing more than 2,800 seats every day at off-peak periods and more than 5,600 seats per day on peak services, along with attractive fares due to value-for-money season tickets, the project means that everybody can now access Tanger-Med by train.
Onward connections to all cities and towns in Morocco are available. Connection times have been optimised so that passengers can travel both to towns with a railway station as well as those without, the latter being served by a combination of rail and road transport in the shape of Supratour coaches, a subsidiary of ONCF group.
With the completion of this project, ONCF is bolstering and enhancing the rail provision to and from Tanger-Med that has been in place since the line entered service in June 2009; it is the final building block in the rail complex at the heart of the port. Representing a total investment of 300 million Moroccan dirhams, the complex includes platforms for the loading of Renault cars, containers and hydrocarbons, in addition to the passenger station located in the Intermodal and Business Hub.
This new rail infrastructure will have a significant impact on port activity and will extend the undeniable benefits of rail transport to the whole region.
To mark the launch of the project, ONCF is offering a week of free travel to the general public (Saturday 29 March – Sunday 6 April 2014) and is allowing employees of the port complex to travel free of charge throughout the whole of April. This offer is valid for all journeys on the Tanger-Ville/Port Tanger-Med line.
(Source: ONCF)
