MOROCCO: Alstom is to supply 30 electric locomotives to ONCF for €130m. Announcing the contract on February 8, the national railway said this was the first order to be placed under a planned wider rolling stock acquisition programme which would include locomotives, multiple-units and wagons.
The 3 kV DC Prima M4 locomotives are to have a rating of 5·5 MW, with a maximum speed of 180 km/h and an operating speed of 160 km/h. Alstom said they would ‘require minimum maintenance and provide high reliability level and low life-cycle cost thanks to the modular design’. They will have provision for the installation of ETCS Level 1 onboard equipment. The order announced by Alstom on February 8 follows an international tender called by ONCF in March 2017. It is being entirely financed by a 40-year French government loan with a grace period of 10 years and an interest rate of 0·0016%.
Assembly of the locomotives is to be undertaken at Alstom’s Belfort plant in France, with bogies from Le Creusot, traction motors from Ornans, transformers from Petit-Quevilly, traction systems from Tarbes and onboard electronics from Villeurbanne. Aftersales support, servicing and maintenance will be undertaken by Alstom’s local staff in Morocco.
‘We are delighted that ONCF has renewed its confidence in our company and our products’, said Brahim Soua, Managing Director of Alstom in Morocco. ‘20 Prima locomotives have been successfully in service in Morocco since 2011 and today, with this new contract, our journey continues.’
