It appears that a groundbreaking proposal is in the works to connect Europe and Africa via a 17-mile underwater rail tunnel, potentially revolutionizing travel between the two continents by 2030. The €6 billion project would connect Spain’s existing rail lines to Morocco’s high-speed Al Boraq route, allowing travelers to journey between Madrid and Casablanca in just over five hours. If this ambitious proposal becomes a reality, it could significantly enhance connectivity between Europe and North Africa, offering an exciting new travel option for millions of people.
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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).
