Creating a railway industrial ecosystem around a train production unit with a local integration rate of around 60 to 80% is one of the objectives of the National Railways Office (ONCF).
To this end, the ONCF has launched a call for expressions of interest aimed at manufacturers of railway rolling stock, in order to create a production unit for multiple units, around which a railway ecosystem will have to revolve.
The project includes a multi-year program for the purchase of self-propelled trains, between 10 to 20 trains per year over the period 2025-2030. This purchase program includes a firm phase, estimated between 50 and 80 reams, and one or more conditional phases, the volume of which should vary between 50 and 100 reams. The partnership also includes a long-term contract for their maintenance. The selected partner will have to ensure the routine and industrial maintenance of the trains, for their entire lifespan and at least for a period of twenty years.
The project aims to create around this industrial unit a railway ecosystem of suppliers and subcontractors, in cooperation with the public authorities. A roadmap called “Ambition 2025-2035” provides for this industrial unit to become an exporter by 2035. This ambition for export will have to go through subcontracting (in first place) for other sites of the selected manufacturer. , for subsets to be defined, with the possibility of resorting to local subcontracting (in second place). The industrial unit must be able to supply trains to the African and European markets.
These trains should have a maximum speed of 200 km/hour and will be fitted out for inter-city or RER use. The integration rate will be progressive, in accordance with a purchasing program which provides that the first 15 trainsets delivered, produced outside Morocco with a local integration rate of 5% to 10%; the following 15 trainsets, produced in Morocco as part of the industrial unit covered by the project, with an integration rate of 30% to 40% and the remaining volumes, produced in Morocco as part of the industrial ecosystem, with an industrial integration rate of 60% to 80%.
