, color = , logo = Logo-casatramway.png , logo_width = , logo_alt = , image = Casablance tram Citadis placedesnationsunis.JPG , image_width = , image_alt = , caption = ''

Alstom Citadis The Alstom Citadis is a family of low-floor trams and light rail vehicles built by Alstom. , over 2,300 Citadis trams have been sold and 1,800 tramways are in revenue service throughout the world, with operations in all six inhabited continents ...

vehicle on line T1 at Place des Nations-Unies station'' , type = Tramway , system = , status = , locale =

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

, Morocco , start = , end = , stations = 71 , routes = 2 , daily_ridership = 220,000 (2019) , ridership2 = 12 , open = , close = , owner = , operator = RATP Dev Casablanca , character = , depot = , stock = 74

302 , linelength = , tracklength = , tracks = , gauge = , old_gauge = , load_gauge = , minradius = , racksystem = , routenumber = , linenumber = , electrification = , speed = , elevation = , website = http://www.casatramway.ma , map = The Casablanca Tramway ( ar, طرامواي الدار البيضاء ''Ṭrāmwāy ad-Dār al-Bayḍā’'') is a

low-floor tram A low-floor tram is a tram that has no stairsteps between one or more entrances and part or all of the passenger cabin. The low-floor design improves the accessibility of the tram for the public, and also may provide larger windows and more airspac ...

system in

, Morocco. , it consists of two lines - T1 from

Sidi Moumen Sidi Moumen ( ar, سيدي مومن) is an arrondissement and northeastern suburb of Casablanca, in the Sidi Bernoussi district of the Casablanca-Settat region of Morocco. As of 2004 it had 289,253 inhabitants. It contains shanty towns from where ...

to Lissasfa, and T2 from

Sidi Bernoussi Sidi Bernoussi ( ar, سيدي البرنوصي) is a district and suburb of northeastern Casablanca, in the Casablanca-Settat region of Morocco. The district covers an area of 38.59 square kilometres (14.9 square miles) and as of 2010 had 503,522 ...

to Aïn Diab—which intersect at 2 points and form a 47 km network with 71 stations. Two additional lines, T3 and T4, are scheduled to open in 2022.

History

The Casablanca Tramway is the second modern tram system in Morocco, after the

Rabat–Salé tramway The Rabat–Salé tramway () is a tram system in the Moroccan agglomeration of Rabat and Salé cities which opened on 23 May 2011. Network The network is long with 43 stops. It has two lines (1 and 2) with a combined section and frequency of ...

, but is longer and has more stations. It was first inaugurated by King Muhammad VI on 12 December 2012. At that time, it consisted of one 31-kilometre Y-shaped line with 48 stops, connecting

in the east with Ain Diab and the district in the west. The line forked toward Ain Diab and ''Facultés'' after Abdelmoumen Station. A second line was opened 24 January 2019. It connects

to Ain Diab, using the segment of the previously existing line from the split to Ain Diab. Line 1 was also extended from ''Facultés'' to Lissasfa.

Construction

Project management Project management is the process of leading the work of a team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project documentation, created at the beginning of the development process. Th ...

on the first line was provided by Casablanca Transports en Site Aménagé ("Casa Transports"), a limited company created for the purpose in March 2009. Stakeholders were the Ministry of Finance & the Interior, local government (the

Grand Casablanca Grand Casablanca or Greater Casablanca (Arabic: الدار البيضاء الكبرى; Amazigh: ''Tamnaḍt Tameqqṛant n Anfa'') was one of the sixteen former regions of Morocco that existed from 1997 to 2015. Located in coastal northwestern Mo ...

regional government, the Casablanca and Casablanca urban commune), and several institutional investors (

King Hassan II Hassan II ( ar, الحسن الثاني, translit=al-Ḥasan aṯ-ṯhānī;), with the prefix "Mulay" before his enthronement 9 July 1929 – 23 July 1999) was the List of rulers of Morocco, King of Morocco from 1961 until his death in 1999. H ...

CDG Capital CDG Capital S.A. is a Moroccan investment bank founded in 2006. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Moroccan Caisse de dépôt et de gestion (CDG). History CDG Capital is a wholly owned subsidiary of Caisse de dépôt et de gestion (CDG), cr ...

Banque Populaire du Maroc Banque Centrale Populaire is a major bank in Morocco. The bank maintains overseas offices in Germany, England, Canada, Spain, France, Gibraltar, Netherlands and Belgium. The bank's name is abbreviated to BCP. As of 2012, the bank's market share ...

, and

ONCF ONCF (from French: ''Office National des Chemins de Fer''; ar, المكتب الوطني للسكك الحديدية ''Al-Maktab al-Waṭaniy lil-Sikak al-Ḥadīdiyyah''; ''Moroccan National Railways Office'') is Morocco's national railway ope ...

). Casa Transports awarded the construction contract to a global group headed by the French group

Systra SYSTRA is a multinational engineering and consulting group in the mobility sector, whose fields of activity include rail and public transport. In 2019, it employed a staff of about 7,300 people, and is a limited company which shareholders includ ...

. Project support was subcontracted to the Spanish group Ayesa Tecnología. Preparatory work started in 2009, with construction of the first line starting in 2010. The line was inaugurated on 12 December 2012 by

King Mohammed VI Mohammed VI ( ar, محمد السادس; born 21 August 1963) is the King of Morocco. He belongs to the 'Alawi dynasty and acceded to the throne on 23 July 1999, upon the death of his father, King Hassan II. Upon ascending to the throne, Moha ...

, with French Prime Minister

Jean-Marc Ayrault Jean-Marc Ayrault (; born 25 January 1950) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2012 to 31 March 2014. He later was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2017. He previously was Mayor of Nantes from 1989 t ...

in attendance. Commercial services started the next day. The of Zones 1 and 3 were constructed by

Yapı Merkezi Yapı Merkezi Holding A.Ş. is a group company whose field of activity is primarily in the construction industry. It was founded in 1965 by Ersin Arioglu and Koksal Anadol in Istanbul. As the first and largest company of the Yapı Merkezi Group, ...

, the of Zone 2 was constructed by

Colas Rail Colas Rail is a railway infrastructure and rail freight company primarily active in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of the French industrial group Bouygues. Colas Rail was originally created as ''Seco Rail'', named after its then-paren ...

Current network

Line T1

, Line 1 of the Casablanca Tramway serves 36 stations between termini in Sidi Moumen and Lissasfa. The line is 23.5 km long and takes 73 minutes from one terminus to the other. It opened December 2012, and was extended January 2019.

Line T2

, the Line T2 runs from Ain Diab to

, via the Ain Sebaa,

Hay Hassani Hay Hassani ( ar, الحي الحسني) is a district, arrondissement and suburb of southwestern Casablanca, in the Berrechid Province of the Casablanca-Settat region of Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the ...

Al Fida Al Fida ( ar, الفداء) is an arrondissement of Casablanca, in the Al Fida - Mers Sultan district of the Casablanca-Settat region of Morocco. As of 2004 it had 186,754 inhabitants. It contains the municipality of Mechouar Mechouar or meshwar ...

and

Derb Sultan Derb Sultan (Arabic: درب السلطان) is one of the largest and oldest neighborhoods in Casablanca. It is part of the prefecture of district Al Fida-Mers Sultan. It is known for being one of the cradles of colonial resistance against the F ...

districts. It uses the segment from the split to Ain Diab in the previous configuration, in addition to new line.

Operation

Travel time between termini is around 69 minutes from Facultés and 77 minutes from Hay Hassani. With a 75% priority at junctions, the average speed comes close to . On weekdays, the tramway runs from 06:30 to 22:00 at weekends it runs from 06:30 to 23:30. Service averages were planned to be every minutes in peak hours and minutes off-peak. Casa Transport awarded a five-year contract to operate the tramway to the CasaTram consortium of

RATP Group RATP may refer to: Transportation: * RATP Group, or ', a public transport operator based in Paris, France * RATP Iași (), a transit operator responsible for public transportation in Iași, Romania * RATP Ploiești (), a transit operator responsi ...

, and Transinvest as partners. In January 2016 RATP Group became the sole shareholder. Following a competitive tender process, RATP Group was awarded a further contract until December 2029 having beaten bids from a

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

/ ALSA /

consortium and

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. History The group was formed by the merger of V ...

. Engie Ineo and Engie Cofely Morocco supplied signaling and other systems for Line 2 as well an extension of Line 1.

Rolling stock

The tramway is operated by 74

type 302

s, built by Alstom in France. Final assembly was completed in

Reichshoffen Reichshoffen ( or ; ; Alsatian: ''Risshoffe'') is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Église Saint-Michel de Reichshoffen was built in 1772. Population Politics and administration List of mayors ...

, Alsace. Trams have air conditioning and tinted windows, and an information system in both Arabic and French. They run typically in pairs with a total length of . A further 50 are to be delivered in 2018 to operate Line T2. In July 2017, Alstom, Bombardier / CAF,

CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co., Ltd. is one of the electric locomotive manufacturers in China. It is one of the subsidiaries of CRRC. History Predecessor Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Works was founded in 1936. CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co., Ltd. O ...

and

Škoda Transportation Škoda Transportation a.s. is a Czech engineering company that continues the legacy of Škoda Works' rolling stock manufacturing that started at the end of 19th century in Plzeň. Following the first world war, the Works commenced locomotive pr ...

were shortlisted to bid for a contract for 100 trams for Lines T3 and T4.

Fares

Ticket prices are subsidised by the Moroccan government and the city of Casablanca, and set at a

flat rate A flat fee, also referred to as a flat rate or a linear rate refers to a pricing structure that charges a single fixed fee for a service, regardless of usage. Less commonly, the term may refer to a rate that does not vary with usage or time of us ...

of 6

dirhams The dirham, dirhem or dirhm ( ar, درهم) is a silver unit of currency historically and currently used by several Arab and Arab influenced states. The term has also been used as a related unit of mass. Unit of mass The dirham was a un ...

per journey, with a weekly

season ticket A season ticket, or season pass, is a ticket that grants privileges over a defined period of time. History The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' has illustrative quotations which show the term ''season ticket'' used in the United States in 1820 ...

at 60 dirhams and a monthly season ticket at 230 dirhams. Fares are paid by a paper

smart card A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card) is a physical electronic authentication device, used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) c ...

at turnstiles on each station platform. Students get a reduced monthly season ticket of 150 dirhams. A combined tram-and-bus fare is being considered.

Usage

In the first month of service, between and passengers used the service each day, on average. A survey in June 2013 recorded commuters.. By 2013, the tramway had met its objectives by carrying over passengers a day. From 2015, passengers a day are expected on Line T1.

Incidents

Tramway operations have resulted in many accidents: in the first 13 months, 180 accidents were reported. * On 1 April 2013, a lorry hit a tramcar at full speed. Both the lorry and tram drivers were injured, according to a witness. The impact was so hard that part of the tram was derailed. * On 2 August 2013, a man was crushed to death. * Two days later on 4 August 2013, a motorcyclist was hit by a tram and died. * On 14 January 2014, a man died after being hit by a tram. * On 24 April 2014, a 26-year-old woman was fatally injured by the tram. * On 4 July 2014, a coach owned by a private firm failed to give way to the tram, and struck it. Part of the tram was derailed. *On 13 January 2015, a rider who entered the tram platform died after being hit. *On 8 November 2017, two teenagers on a motorcycle were injured after hitting a tram line. *On 26 December 2017, two women were struck crossing the tramway and were injured.

Future

The (SDAU, "Master plan of the Director of urban planning") and the (PDU, "Urban transport plan") for Greater Casablanca foresee a final network of 4 tramway lines, two traversal (T1, T2) and two radial (T3, T4). These lines will interchange with the now cancelled Casablanca Metro and the operational Al Bidaoui suburban railways. Casablanca will have a network totalling 76 route km ( route mi), costing 5.9 billion dirhams.

Lines T3 and T4

Long-term plans in the SDAU and PDU are for new lines T3 () and T4 (. Line T3 will connect the Sidi Othmane district to the

El Hank Suffix beginning with P ''Empire Pacific'' ''Empire Pacific'' was a 984- GRT (1,200 DWT) coaster which was built by Burntisland Shipbuilding Company Ltd. Sold in 1949 to the Straits Steamship Co Ltd, Singapore and renamed ''Buloh''. Sold in ...

district via the city centre to Casa-Port railway station, and T4 will connect the

Sbata Sbata ( ar, سباتة) is an arrondissement of Casablanca, in the Ben M'Sick district of the Casablanca-Settat region of Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of ...

and Lissasfa districts via the Aïn Chock and the Facultés district.

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Morocco Railway lines opened in 2012 RATP Group

Tram transport in Morocco Transport in Casablanca 2012 establishments in Morocco