The “Casa Voyageur”, the new high-speed railway station in Casablanca will carry the signature of Italferr (Gruppo FS). In this way Italferr is set to strengthen its presence in North Africa, where Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (Italian State Railways Group) has already been operating for a number of years, in Egypt and in Algeria, providing numerous technical assistance services.
Italferr, the engineering company belonging to Gruppo FS, will be assisted in its work to design the new station by Favero & Milan Ingegneria S.p.A., the architect Yassir Khalil and the ABDR Architetti Associati practice (winners of the project to design the new high-speed Tiburtina station in Rome). The project was presented in Rabat a month ago to the Jury chaired by Mohammed Rabie Khlie, Managing Director of the ONCF Railways (Office National des Chemins de Fer) and by Benjelloun Azerlarab, President of the Ordre National des Architectes du Maroc (Moroccan National Order of Architects).
Numerous big names in international engineering and architecture took part in the design competition launched by ONCF. From the French AREP practice (designers of the new high-speed station of Torino Porta Susa not to mention many other high-speed stations in France), to the German group GMP (designers of the new stadia built in Ukraine for the Euro2012 football championship) and the British company Chapman Taylor (designers of the London St. Pancras station and the new airport in Dubai).
“Casa Voyageur” will serve approximately 22 million passengers a year (compared to the current figure of 4.5 m) and will offer numerous commercial facilities thanks to the future multiservice pole. Suspended 19 metres above the track, it will have a covered surface area of 14,000 m² joined to the current building dating back to the colonial period. Linked to the centre of the city by the new urban tram service, the new station will represent an important opportunity for urban requalification by joining together two districts of the city which at present are divided by the railway line.
The new high-speed station in Casablanca will be part of the project to build the new Casablanca – Rabat – Kenitra – Tangier high-speed line. An infrastructure which is being financed mainly by the French government, with some funds coming from the Arabian peninsula, and which the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI is keen to see realized. It represents an important step forward in the overall project to modernize the country which is already underway with the construction of the Port of Tangier and aims to support plans to build a tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar. With the Casablanca, Rabat, Kenitra and Tangier line, the European network of high-speed lines will have a southern branch which will extend as far as Casablanca, the first high-speed station on the African continent and a doorway onto a metropolis of over 4 million inhabitants.
Italferr is also strengthening its orders portfolio in the Balkans. Italferr sealed a contract in Albania for the feasibility study of the multimodal station in Tirana. Italferr received this new commission from the Albanian capital’s Municipal Council, with the financial support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The contract was signed in Tirana by the Managing Director of Italferr, Renato Casale (representing the group formed by Italferr and the local practices CMS Adonnino Ascoli & Cavasola Scamoni and A&B Business Consulting) and the Mayor of Tirana, Lulzim Basha. With the award of this important commission, Italferr is strengthening its orders portfolio in the western Balkans where it is already working on various projects realized on behalf of the EU, the EBRD and the EIB and where new calls for tenders involving railway engineering works are expected in the coming months.
Press Release by FS Italiane, 12 October 2012
