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High-speed railway in developing countries: mind the gap -lessons from Morocco-

Author

Listed:
  • Imane Hoummirat

    (ISAE-SUPAERO - Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace)

  • Thierry Blayac

    (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier)

Abstract

Conducted prior to the launch of the High-Speed Railway (HSR) in Morocco, this study aims to be the first research to assess the HSR project through the estimation of the value of travel time savings. We focused on inter-urban routes to assess the HSR project impact. We conducted a Discrete Choice Experiment in the cities impacted (directly or indirectly) by the HSR project, which are Tangier, Kenitra, Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakesh. Our results show that at the sample average points of each mode of transport, the values of travel time savings are approximately 94MAD/h for car users, 27MAD/h for train users and 25MAD/h for bus users. We performed a simulation for the Tangier-Casablanca route and obtained satisfactory results (93MAD/h, 26MAD/h and 24MAD/h, for private car, train, and bus journeys respectively). Finally, our results show that the pricing strategies of the national railway operator (Office National des Chemins de Fer) present a potential risk of eviction, which could counterbalance the positive impact of the time savings.

Suggested Citation

  • Imane Hoummirat & Thierry Blayac, 2025. "High-speed railway in developing countries: mind the gap -lessons from Morocco-," Post-Print hal-04677400, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04677400
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2024.2385748
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04677400v1
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