Seven years after Al Boraq became Africa's first high-speed train, Morocco has carried 25 million passengers at 320 km/h — and CBS 60 Minutes just flew to Casablanca to ask how they did it.
In April 2026, a CBS 60 Minutes crew boarded a train in Morocco to file a story about the United States. The segment, reported by Jon Wertheim, opened with a striking observation: the train "hums across the fruited plains at a top speed of 200 miles-an-hour. It revolutionised travel, it's a source of national pride… in Morocco." The episode used Al Boraq — Africa's first high-speed rail service — as a mirror held up to California's long-stalled bullet train project and the broader American failure to build fast rail.
Morocco did not set out to become a cautionary tale for the world's largest economy. It set out to connect Tangier and Casablanca in under three hours.
From 4 hours 45 minutes to 2 hours 10
Before 15 November 2018, travelling between Tangier on Morocco's northern tip and Casablanca, its commercial capital, took 4 hours and 45 minutes by the fastest train. Al Boraq — named for the mythical steed of Islamic tradition — changed that to 2 hours and 10 minutes on opening day. The service covers 323 kilometres via Kenitra and Rabat, with a dedicated high-speed section of 186 kilometres between Tangier and Kenitra where trains reach 320 km/h (200 mph), making it the fastest train on the African continent and the 6th fastest in the world.
The rolling stock is Alstom's Euroduplex — the same double-decker TGV family that runs in France, Germany, and Luxembourg. ONCF, Morocco's national railway operator, ordered 12 trainsets each carrying 533 passengers across first and second class. The project cost exceeded €2 billion, developed in partnership with France's SNCF and largely financed through French government loans.
Seven years of records
Seven years into service, the numbers have exceeded every original forecast. Al Boraq carried 4.2 million passengers in 2022, rising to more than 5 million in 2023 (a 24% year-on-year increase), and 5.5 million in 2024. The line's cumulative ridership surpassed 25 million passengers by 2026. On-time performance exceeds 94% — placing it among the most reliable high-speed railways in the world.
The economic effect has run deeper than ridership statistics. Travel between Tangier's port — Europe's busiest gateway for goods entering Africa — and Casablanca's financial centre dropped from the better part of a working day to a short commuter hop. Property values near stations rose. Tourism from Europe, already a significant contributor to Morocco's economy, shifted toward a train that makes day trips between Moroccan cities practical.
The next chapter: 430 km to Marrakech
On 24 April 2025, King Mohammed VI launched construction of the Kenitra–Marrakech high-speed line. The 430-kilometre extension will connect Rabat, Casablanca, and Morocco's most iconic destination city, and is designed for speeds up to 350 km/h — though service will operate at up to 320 km/h. Cost of the track alone: MAD 53 billion ($5.3 billion). A separate €2.9 billion contract covers 18 new Alstom high-speed trainsets.
One year into construction (April 2026), ONCF reported land acquisition complete, rights-of-way largely cleared, some 20 million cubic metres of earthwork executed, and fifteen viaducts under active construction. The target completion date is 2030 — timed to coincide with Morocco co-hosting the FIFA World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal. When complete, journey time from Tangier to Marrakech will drop from roughly 7 hours to 2 hours and 40 minutes. Annual ridership on the extended network is forecast to reach 7.2 million.
What the rest of the world is watching
The Al Boraq story has become a reference point in debates about high-speed rail in countries that have not built it — most notably the United States, where the CBS 60 Minutes comparison resonated in April 2026. But it has also drawn attention from African nations watching Morocco demonstrate that high-speed rail is achievable outside Europe and East Asia.
For India, which is simultaneously building its first bullet train (Mumbai–Ahmedabad, 508 km at 320 km/h) and pushing Vande Bharat semi-high-speed trains into 160 km/h operation, Morocco's experience with Alstom technology and French financing carries direct lessons. The Kenitra–Tangier line went from planning to passenger service in roughly a decade. India's bullet train project broke ground in 2017 and is targeting its first operational section for 2027.
The most important thing Al Boraq proved is the one that gets lost in the infrastructure policy debates: once a high-speed train is running, people use it. Morocco's 25 million passengers did not need persuading.
Sources
- Al Boraq — Wikipedia
- High-speed rail in Morocco — Wikipedia
- CBS 60 Minutes cites Morocco's Al Boraq as model as US fails to build high-speed rail — Morocco World News
- One year after launch, what has ONCF delivered on its high-speed rail program? — Morocco World News
- ONCF ridership and revenue up in 2023 — International Railway Journal
- Al Boraq High Speed Train: 7 Years of Records — MAwebzine