Imagine being able to board a train from Spain to Morocco, and travel efficiently—and sustainably—between Europe and Africa in under six hours. Thanks to a historic rail tunnel project currently being considered by the two countries’ transportation ministries, the first-ever rail link between the two continents could become a reality in just a few years.
Undersea tunnels connecting Southern Europe to Northern Africa were first proposed in 1979, but the project has taken on new urgency due to the 2030 World Cup, which is set to take place across Portugal, Spain, and Morocco. As such, the Moroccan National Company for Strait Studies (SNED) announced last week that it was launching initial research into the feasibility of the project, including construction costs and logistics, according to a report from The Telegraph.
The rail tunnel would streamline transportation between Spain and Morocco, making it possible to hop on a train in Madrid and arrive in Casablanca in an estimated five and a half hours. It currently takes more than 12 hours to get between the 2 cities by car and ferry, while flights are about 2 hours long.
There’s also a possibility for the new rail project to connect to existing train routes in both countries, so passengers would have the option to continue their travel on either continent beyond the two cities.
Over the last year, Spain and Morocco have engaged in high-level talks about reviving the project, with transport ministers from both countries holding multiple meetings since spring 2023. “We are therefore beginning a new stage in the relaunch of the Fixed Link Project through the Strait of Gibraltar, which we began in 1981,” Raquel Sánchez, Spain’s Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda said in a release after a meeting in April 2023. Last year, Spain allocated 2.3 million euros to launch its own feasibility studies into the tunnel project.
