North Africa — Concept Stage

North Africa — a network to the MMC standard.

13 corridors linking 49 cities, about 9,000 km measured city to city in straight lines (about 10,800 km built, at a route factor of 1.2), with 12 cross-border links and crossings. The Mediterranean coast from Agadir to Cairo, the Atlantic coast from Agadir through Western Sahara to Mauritania, the Nile to Aswan, Sinai to the Strait of Tiran, the Trans-Saharan line from Algiers, and a future Strait of Sicily crossing from Tunisia to Italy, the target as technology allows (about 145 km of open sea, up to 316 m deep). Western Sahara is on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories; its status is disputed.

The Network Concept

The corridors.

Each corridor is listed below in order of its cities.

Schematic map of an MMC network concept for North Africa: corridors, cross-border links, sea crossings, mountain tunnels and the spines. — MMC North Africa network concept, schematic. Dark lines are corridors; grey lines are neighbouring corridors; gold lines are cross-border links; blue dashed lines are sea crossings; gold dashed lines are mountain tunnels; the wide gold band marks the spines. Routes are indicative.

Routes are indicative. Corridors are drawn city to city, through the cities on the existing railway wherever a line exists: MMC corridors follow those lines, upgrading the line or running above it on viaduct. Where no line exists, the corridor is new build. Final alignments are set at detailed design by terrain survey, geotechnical analysis, environmental and cultural heritage assessment, and agreement between the nations they connect.

EG-1 Sinai: Sharm el-Sheikh – Suez – Cairo
EG-2 Mediterranean: Sallum – Marsa Matruh – Alexandria – Cairo
EG-3 Nile: Cairo – Asyut – Luxor – Aswan
LY-1 Coastal: Musaid – Tobruk – Benghazi – Sirte – Misrata – Tripoli – Ras Ajdir
TN-1 Coastal: Ben Gardane – Gabès – Sfax – Sousse – Tunis – Ghardimaou
DZ-1 Maghreb: Souk Ahras – Constantine – Sétif – Algiers – Oran – Maghnia
DZ-2 Trans-Saharan: Algiers – Laghouat – Ghardaïa – In Salah – Tamanrasset – In Guezzam
MA-1 Atlantic: Oujda – Fez – Kenitra – Rabat – Casablanca – Marrakesh – Agadir
MA-2 Al Boraq: Tangier – Kenitra
EG-4 North Sinai: Cairo – Ismailia – El Arish
MA-3 Saharan Coast: Agadir – Guelmim – Tan-Tan
EH-1 Atlantic Coast: Laayoune – Boujdour – Dakhla
TN-2 Cap Bon: Tunis – Kélibia

North Africa — a network to the MMC standard.

The corridors.

To initiate the programme in North Africa.