Tunnel linking Spain and Morocco - Update.

Back in November 2005, The View from Fez reported on moved to link Africa and Europe by constructing and undersea tunnel for high speed trains, an idea first suggested by King Hassan II many decades ago.

The Spanish government signalled its interest, earmarking 4 million Euros for further advancing the idea after initial technical studies confirmed the feasibility of the project. The tunnel will not come cheaply with conservative costings putting the figure around five billion Euros and be paid for by the EU, the private sector and Spain and Morocco.

The studies, undertaken by the two public companies, the National Company of the Strait studies (SNED) and SECEGSA, concluded that a tunnel of 40 km should run between Tarifa in Spain and Malabata Region, near Tangier. About 28 km of the tunnel will be constructed under water, and the rest on each side of the Strait's ground.

The Spanish government was looking at starting the project in 2008 with completion by 2020, however, according to a report in the British Guardian newspaper, work could begin in 2007 but the date for services to start running has been moved back to 2025.

Moroccan Rail operator ONCF’s managing director, Mohamed Rabie Khlie, has been very upbeat about the project saying that plans mooted years ago for a tunnel from Europe to Africa across the strait of Gibraltar were still on course, meaning trains may one day travel direct from Madrid to Marrakesh.

“A Moroccan-Spanish committee is working very hard on this issue and it’s going very well,” he said. “We feel quite a clear willingness on the Spanish side to push things forward.”

Detailed geological studies have been undertaken with the first results to be published early next year. One problem that has already emerged is the presence of large areas of clay near the Moroccan coast and the need for new drilling techniques to cope with the undersea currents at the confluence of the Mediteranean and the Atlantic

According to the Guardian, Spain and Morocco have commissioned preliminary engineering studies and called on the renowned Swiss tunnel engineer Giovanni Lombardi to draw up a project outlining how work could proceed.

Exploratory tunnelling could start after his report, which will be based on recent detailed studies of the geological patterns under the strait, is handed in next year. "We are just beginning the work, but I would say this is more difficult than the Channel tunnel," Mr Lombardi told the Guardian. "The main difference is the depth of the sea but the geological conditions are also different."

The first plan looked at constructing the tunnel at the narrowest point between Spain and Morocco but was abandoned as the depth of 900 metres was too great meaning that to create a gradient for trains the tunnel would have to emerge miles inland at both ends. A new route is being investigated at a point where the seabed is only 300 metres and which would run from Malabata Point, near Tangier, to the area around Punta Paloma in Spain.

Other problems to be solved are the many different rock strata on the seabed and the need to protect the tunnel from earthquake. The two most destructive earthquakes have hit Lisbon in 1755 and Agadir in 1960.


Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news