In just over five years, there’s a good chance that you will be able to board a high-speed train in Madrid and travel from Spain to the Moroccan city of Casablanca in five and a half hours, hurtling through a new tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar. This may sound like something from a Jules Verne novel, but it was first discussed by Spain and Morocco in 1979. They even did feasibility studies through 1981, but the project failed to progress beyond that point.
Spain and Morocco are now reconsidering this ambitious undertaking, spurred in large part by the approaching 2030 FIFA World Cup. It will mark the centennial World Cup competition, and for the first time, three countries from two continents will host the competition: Spain, Morocco, and Portugal. Fans will want to travel between these countries for matches as quickly and efficiently as possible. They might as well do so on a 21st century engineering marvel.
The Moroccan National Company for Strait Studies (SNED) has announced that it has begun researching the project’s viability, called the Euro Africa Gibraltar Straight Fixed Link. Spain commenced such studies in 2023 under the aegis of the Spanish Society for Fixed Communication Studies across the Strait of Gibraltar (SECEGSA).
Some of the impetus for rethinking this project came after Morocco completed its first high-speed rail project, a train that connects Casablanca with Tangier, in 2023. It’s now not only the fastest train on the African continent, but it demonstrated that the country was ready for another significant rail challenge.
