Casablanca Tramway

Casablanca Tramway

Alstom Citadis Type 302 in Casablanca
Overview
Native name Tramway de Casablanca
Type Tram
Locale Casablanca, Morocco
Stations 48
Services 1
Daily ridership 100,000 (2014)
Operation
Opened 13 December 2012 (2012-12-13)[1]
Operator(s) Casa Tram
(100% subsidiary of RATP Développement)[2]
Rolling stock 74 Alstom Citadis 302[3]
Technical
Line length 31 km (19 mi)
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification N/A
Operating speed 19 km/h (12 mph)
Route map
Legend
 Ain Diab
 Littoral
 Hay Hassani
 Sidi Abderrhamane
Quartier des Facultés
Cité de l'Air
Gare des Facultés
Anfa Park
Zénith
Anfa Main Street
Technopark
Grand Théatre
Panoramique
Beauséjour
Mainline rail interchange Gare de l'Oasis
Ghandi
Mekka
Riviera
Bachkou
Derb Ghallef
Abdelmoumen
 Faculté de Médicine
 Les Hôpitaux
 Av. Hassan II
 Pl. Mohammed V
 Nations-Unies
 Marché Central
 Mohammed Diouri
 La Résistance
 Pl. Al Yassir
 Gare de Casa-Voyageurs Mainline rail interchange
 Bd. Bahmad
 Anciens Abbatoirs
 Grande Ceinture
 Al Yaata
 Achouhada
 Hay Mohammadi
 Ibn Tachfine
 Hay Raja
 Forces Auxiliares
 Sidi Moumen – Okba Ibn Nafi
 Attacharouk
 Hôpital de Sidi Moumen
 Centre de Maintenance
 Mohammed Zefzaf
 Nassim
 Sidi Moumen – Terminus

The Casablanca Tramway (French: Tramway de Casablanca, Arabic: ترامواي الدار البيضاء‎) is a low-floor tram system in Casablanca, Morocco.[4][5] It is the second tram system in Morocco, after the Rabat-Salé Tramway, but is longer and has more stations. As of 2014, it consists of just one Y-shaped line, 31 km (19 mi) long, with 48 stations, connecting Sidi Moumen in the east with Ain Diab and the Facultés district in the west. More lines are planned.[6]

Construction

Project management on the first line was provided by Casablanca Transports en Site Aménagé SA ("Casa Transports"), a limited company created for the purpose in March 2009. Stakeholders were the Moroccan Ministry of Finance and the Interior, local government (the Grand Casablanca regional government, the Casablanca préfecture and Casablanca urban commune), and several institutional investors (King Hassan II, CDG Capital, Banque Populaire du Maroc, and ONCF, the state-owned railway).[7] Casa Transports awarded the construction contract to a global group headed by the French group Systra.[7] Project support was subcontracted to the Spanish group Ayesa Tecnología.[7]

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, with French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault[8] in attendance. Commercial service started the next day, 13 December 2012.[1][8]

The 20 km (12 mi) of Zones 1 and 3 were constructed by Yapı Merkezi, the 10 km (6.2 mi) of Zone 2 was constructed by Colas Rail.

Current network

Line T1

As of 2014, the Casablanca Tramway consists of one line of 31 route kilometres (19.5 miles), with 48 stations, from termini at Sidi Moumen in the east to Aïn Diab and the Facultés district in the west.[9]

Operation

74 Alstom Citadis Type 302 trams were ordered from Alstom, which also provided power and signalling systems.[3]

Travel time between termini is around 64 minutes from Facultés and 69 minutes from Hay Hassani.[8] With a 75% priority at junctions, the average speed comes close to 19 kilometres per hour (12 mph).[8] On weekdays, the tramway runs from 6.30 am to 10 pm; at weekends it runs from 6.30 am to 11.30 pm.[9] Service averages were planned to be every 4 1⁄2 minutes in peak hours and 8 1⁄2 minutes off-peak.[8] However, this will only be achieved after all rolling stock has been delivered.

Casa Transport handed over operation of the first line to the CasaTram group, led by the French RATP Group and its subsidiary RATP Développement with the Moroccan Caisse de dépôt et de gestion (CDG) and Transinvest as partners.[2][10] The contract is worth 1.1m dirhams (approximately €90m) over 5 years.[11]

Rolling stock

The tramway is equipped with 74 Alstom Citadis type 302 low-floor trams, built by Alstom in France.[12] Final assembly was completed in Reichshoffen, Alsace.[13] Trams have air conditioning and tinted windows, and an information system in both Arabic and French. They are typically arranged as multiple units with a total length of 65 metres (213 ft).[8] Low floors provide accessibility for those with reduced mobility. Alstom has a 15-year maintenance contract for the trains. The total contract value including works, maintenance and options exceeds €190m.[12]

Fares

Ticket prices are subsidised by the Moroccan government and the city of Casablanca, and set at a flat rate of 6 dirhams (about €0.54) per journey, with a weekly season ticket at 60 dirhams (about €5.40) and a monthly season ticket at 230 dirhams (about €20.70).[14] Students get a reduced monthly season ticket of 150 dirhams (about €13.50).[14] A combined tram-and-bus fare is being considered.

Usage

In the first month of service, between 40,000 and 45,000 passengers used the service each day, on average.[15] A survey in June 2013 recorded 70,000 commuters.[16] By 2013, the tramway had met its objectives by carrying over 100,000 passengers a day.[17] From 2015, 255,000 passengers a day are expected on Line T1.[10][16]

Incidents

Tramway operations have resulted in many accidents: in the first 13 months, 180 accidents were reported.[18][19]

Future

Master plan of the integrated Casablanca tramway, metro and suburban railways to the year 2030

The Schéma directeur d'aménagement urbain (SDAU, "Master plan of the Director of urban planning")[26] and the Plan de déplacement urbain (PDU, "Urban transport plan")[27] 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.[26][27][28] Casablanca will have a network totalling 76 route km (47 1⁄4 route mi), costing 5.9 billion dirhams.[16]

Line T1 Line extension

The SDAU and PDU foresee an extension of Line T1 from its terminus in the Facultés district to the business district CaseNearShore. This 22 km (14 mi) extension will replace the part of the line up to Aïn Diab, which will be re-used as part of the future Line T2.[26][27]

Line T2

According to the SDAU[26] and PDU,[27] the 17 km (11 mi) Line T2 will run from Aïn Diab to Aïn Sebaâ, via the El Fida et Derb Sultan districts. It will re-use the redundant section of Line 1 between Anoual and its terminus at Aïn Diab.[26][27]

In the longer term, Line T2 will be extended west from Aïn Diab to the Hay Hassani district, Aïn Sebaâ and out to the Sidi Bernoussi district. This extension will be 27 km (17 mi) long.[26][27]

Lines T3 and T4

Long-term plans in the SDAU[26] and PDU[27] are for new lines T3 (14 km (8.7 mi)) and T4 (13 km (8.1 mi).

Line T3 will connect the Sidi Othmane district to the El Hank district via the city centre to Casa-Port railway station, and T4 will connect the Sbata and Lissasfa districts via the Aïn Chock and the Facultés district.[26][27]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Tramway de Casablanca: Baptème du rail dès 5h30" [Casablanca Tramway: Rail baptism at 5.30 am.]. L'Economiste (in French). 13 December 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  2. 1 2 "L'exploitation du tramway de Casablanca confiée à la RATP" [Operation of Casablanca Tramway awarded to RATP]. http://lavieeco.com (in French). 13 June 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  3. 1 2 "Casablanca tram contracts awarded". Railway Gazette. 15 November 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  4. ↑ "Systra : Casablanca Tramway (Morocco) . Ingenierie transport urbain, ingenierie transport ferroviaire." [Systra: Casablanca Tramway (Morocco). Urban transport engineer, railway engineer.] (in French). 15 November 2010. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "Construction to begin next year on Casablanca tram project". http://Magharebia.com. Retrieved 23 October 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  6. ↑ "Etudes et synthèse" [Studies and simulations] (in French). Archived from the original on December 20, 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 "Qui réalise le projet ?" [Who is producing the project?]. http://www.casablancatransports.ma (in French). Retrieved 4 March 2013. External link in |website= (help)
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Le Groupe RATP met en service le tramway de Casablanca" [RATP Group starts tramway service in Casablanca]. RATP (in French). 12 December 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  9. 1 2 "Présentation du projet" ["Project presentation"]. http://www.casablancatransports.ma (in French). Retrieved 11 December 2012. External link in |website= (help)
  10. 1 2 "Le tramway de Casablanca pour RATP Dev". RATP Group (in French). Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  11. ↑ "A Casablanca, la RATP fait rouler le plus long tram d'Afrique" [In Casablanca, the RATP rolls out the longest tram in Africa]. http://www.mobilicites.com mobilicites.com (in French). Retrieved 12 December 2012. External link in |website= (help)
  12. 1 2 "La ville de Casablanca choisit le Citadis d’Alstom pour son futur réseau de tramway" [The town of Casablanca chooses Alstom Citadis for its new tramway network] (in French). Alstom. 18 November 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  13. ↑ "Royal opening launches Casablanca trams". Railway Gazette International. 14 December 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  14. 1 2 "Tramway de Casablanca - le ticket à 6 dirhams" [Casablanca Tramway – tickets 6 dirhams]. L'Economiste. 30 November 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  15. ↑ "Débuts en douceur pour le tramway de Casablanca" [Smooth start for the Casablanca Tramway]. Le Soir (Belgium) (in French). 23 January 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  16. 1 2 3 .Benlahrech, Ryadh (2013). "Le tramway qui facilite le train-train" [The tramway which eases commuting]. Jeune Afrique (in French) (4): 68. ISSN 1950-1285. |chapter= ignored (help)
  17. ↑ Djama, Nasser (19 December 2013). "Après le succès du tramway, Casablanca va préparer son futur métro aérien en 2014" [After the success of the tramway, Casablanca gets ready for Skytrain in 2014]. L'Usine Maroc (in French). Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  18. ↑ Zerrour, Laila (16 April 2014). "Tramway de Casablanca: Une quinzaine d accidents par mois" [Casablanca Tramway: Around 15 accidents a month]. aujourdhui.ma (in French). Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  19. ↑ "Maroc: près de 15 accidents par mois liés au tramway à Casablanca" [Morocco: Nearly 15 accidents a month on the Casablanca Tramway]. Le Soir (Belgium) (in French). 13 January 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  20. ↑ "Tramway Casablanca : Trois blessés dans un accident" [Casablanca Tram: Three hurt in accident]. http://www.lnt.ma (in French). 1 April 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  21. ↑ "Un camion heurte le tramway à Casablanca" [Lorry hits tram in Casablanca]. http://lobservateurdumaroc.info (in French). 1 April 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  22. 1 2 "Accidents de la circulation: Casa Tram part en "guerre"" [Traffic accidents: Casa Tram's part in the "war"]. L'Economiste (in French). 6 August 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  23. ↑ "Un mort après un accident de tramway à Casablanca" [One dead after Casablanca tram accident]. http://bladi.net (in French). 14 January 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  24. ↑ Farkouch, Kenza (24 April 2014). "Casablanca : Une femme mortellement heurtée par le tramway" [Casablanca: Woman fatally injured by tram]. http://yabiladies.com (in French). Retrieved 23 October 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  25. ↑ "Tramway de Casablanca : un accident de plus, meurtrier cette fois" [Casablanca Tramway: One more accident, this time fatal]. http://biladi.ma (in French). Retrieved 23 October 2014. External link in |website= (help)
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Allal, Sakrouhi (October 2008). "Schéma directeur d'aménagement urbain" [Master plan of the Director of Urban Planning] (PDF) (in French). Agence urbaine de Casablanca. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "PROBLEMATIQUE DES DEPLACEMENTS URBAINS A CASABLANCA - Cas du projet de transport en commun en site propre (TCSP)" [REQUIREMENTS FOR URBAN TRANSPORT IN CASABLANCA - Public transport projects on dedicated land] (PDF) (in French). 13 November 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  28. ↑ Renard, Xavier (12 December 2012). "Youssef Draiss : "Des transports modernes stimuleront l’économie de Casablanca"" [Youssef Draiss: "Modern transport will stimulate the Casablanca economy"]. http://busetcar.com. Retrieved 23 October 2014. External link in |website= (help)

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