Marrakech’s Planned Commuter Railway Gets a 4 Billion Dirham Budget and Four New Stops

Marrakech’s future rail map is taking a more concrete shape. A transport-ministry presentation to parliament on November 3 set out a 4 billion dirham budget for a commuter-rail service between Benguerir and Marrakech, including four proposed new stations. The sum is split between 3.2 billion dirhams for infrastructure and 800 million for trains.

The stations identified in the ministry’s latest account are Benguerir’s new town, Sidi Bou Othmane, the area of Marrakech’s Grand Stade and Marrakech Annakhil. Alongside these, the plan envisages refurbishing Benguerir’s existing station and using the main Marrakech station in Guéliz. That makes six stations in the regional description, though published planning documents have not yet supplied a passenger timetable, full local route map or fares.

This is a regional commuter system, generally referred to as RER, and should not be confused with the separate high-speed Kénitra–Marrakech line. The two projects are part of Morocco’s wider rail expansion, but they have different purposes. High-speed trains are intended to shorten intercity journeys; the planned RER would give the area between Benguerir and Marrakech a more frequent regional link, with stations serving emerging residential, employment and sporting districts.

The schedule is still forward-looking. The transport ministry says South Korean manufacturer Hyundai Rotem is due to deliver Morocco’s first new RER train in August 2028, with deliveries across the national order running into 2032. September 2029 has been cited as a target for the Marrakech-area rail works. Neither date means a public commuter service is operating today, and the national delivery timetable should not be mistaken for an opening date for an individual Marrakech stop.

There is also a mapping question still to resolve. Earlier ONCF infrastructure reporting referred to a five-station package tied to the high-speed and regional projects, including a Sidi Ghanem RER station. The November ministerial summary lists four proposed new commuter stations and names Annakhil instead. These accounts are not a final published service map; the discrepancy should be reconciled before readers treat either list as a settled station-by-station operating plan.

For now, travellers in Guéliz continue to use the existing ONCF station and its conventional services. The new budget statement is significant because it identifies what the future commuter network is intended to connect, not because passengers can start using it. Cover photograph: an archival view of the existing Marrakech station, via Wikimedia Commons; no new RER train or station is pictured.