Rabat-Salé tramway

The tram Rabat- Salé ( Tramway de Rabat -Sale) is a put into use on 23 May 2011 tram network in the Moroccan cities of Rabat and Sale. The network with a length of 19 kilometers includes two lines and 30 stations and operated by Veolia Transdev with Alstom Citadis trains.

History

The former tramway in Rabat

In the first half of the 20th century there was during the time of the French Protectorate already a tramway in Rabat. The tracks were steam - and petrol- powered. The tram network existed from the 1910s until the early 1930s.

The new tram

As early as 1976 a route of Trans transportation plan developed, which provided for public transport on own route for the conurbation Rabat-Sale. Further studies in 1982 and 2003 followed, and concretized the plans. Reason for these plans was the large population growth in the metropolitan area: 2004-2010, the population increased from 1.318 million to over two million to.

On this basis, the design plans for the tram network was completed in the years 2005 and 2006. The destination network comprises four lines and requires two crossings of the Bou- Regreg.

The first phase consists of two lines:

• The lines 1 connects Hay Karima ( Sale) with the district Agdal (Rabat ), where it passes through the city center on Avenue Al Alaouiyine. This line opens up the main points of the agglomeration: The Avenue Mohammed V in Salé, the government district, the railway stations in Rabat and Salé, the faculties and libraries between Bab Rouah and Ibn Azor, the Agdal neighborhood and eventually the university campus Bab Al Irfane and the hospital in Souissi.
• Line 2 opens the populous district Océan, Yacoub Al Mansour and Bettana ( in Salé ).

A three- kilometer-long common section of the two lines operated five stops and includes in particular the crossing of the Bou- Regreg on the new bridge Hassan II

With the commissioning of the first two lines of a significant change in the modal split has occurred. Ultimately, 80% of passengers should be former users of buses and taxis as well as former pedestrian. A significant proportion of car traffic will be replaced by the tram, this goal three parking spaces were built at the terminals.

Work on the new tramway began in mid-2006 as part of the overall development of the Bou- Regreg Valley and were carried out by GTR and the French company Colas.

The tracks have a cruising speed of 20 km / h and can carry 172,000 passengers per day.

The official opening by King Mohammed VI took place on 18 May 2011 and 23 May 2011 began passenger service.