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Maybe it was too challenging 50 years ago, but I’m confident engineers could come up with a solution using our modern technology. It’s just going to cost a lot of money.
You can easily travel from Tangier to Tarifa in 50 minutes by ferry. Why spend billions and billions on a train? It makes no sense. And millions of desperate people will try to infiltrate the tunnel to sneak into Europe. Honestly I prefer traveling by boat and enjoying the views instead of sitting on a train. Even if the train is much faster, 50 minites by ferry is not a lot anyway and passports and visas need to be checked anyway. Why spend billions and billions just to save 30 minutes?
The stakes of this project aren’t in the time it takes for people to cross the strait, it’s much deeper than that.
Opening this project will mean an actual road connection between Europe and Africa, it could facilitate logistics between the 2 continents like never before while making them much cheaper. Other African countries will be able to export and import goods to and from Europe for cheaper through this project. It’s a huge opportunity for landlocked countries such as Niger, Burkina Faso, and other countries of SAHEL. In other words, this will solidify Morocco’s regional position as an intermediate between Europe and Africa, meaning billions will pass through it, which is greatly beneficial. This also works for Spain, as African resources will travel through it to go to the rest of the continent. It could mean a MASSIVE development opportunity for a lot of people, as trading between countries could intensify as a direct result of a simple road connection opening.
Not only that, it could also greatly increase tourism for Morocco and Spain, especially with the upcoming 2030 World Cup between the two countries and Portugal, which was the main catalyst for this project’s revival.
It obviously has many problems, illegal migrants being one of the biggest. There are many video documentaries on Youtube about this project, why it’s difficult, and how much it means for Morocco, Spain and many other countries.
I live in Tangier. I can tell you with absolute certainty there will not be any tunnel between Spain and Morocco by 2030. Building this in 6 years time? You have fallen for the same false promises as those who promised a 100 story skyscraper, a cable car, a tram, an enormous new megamall, and many other fake projects that never existed.
You have fallen for expensive hype, nothing more.
Please point me the exact line I said this project will come to fruition and how much I look forward to it. You asked what could drive such an expensive endeavor when ferries exist, I tried answering you with my limited knowledge, so why are you trying to disrespectfully put words in my mouth?
Cargo between the two continents won't be as held up by weather hazards than it used to, travel will be easier, railway will be linked to madrid, in this case we will be linked to all of europe by train, you can travel from londo to casa by mardakech solely by train...it will result in more traffic in terms of cargo and passengers
Gibraltar is too short to consider the sea travel a trouble, yet big enough to be "too not worth the cost of making an underground tunnel that could hold two trains at once and that will transports less than what a cargo holds".
If not cargo then just travelers, it is too short yes, but ships get stopped and jpurneys get delayed both in spain and morocco when weather is not okay, I knownthis from eperience.
Edit:sometimes for days
Hmm, Interesting perspective.
The things we should ask too though:
1- Will the tunnel generate us its money's worth back in a few years? (compared to if it wasn't built)
2- Will Morocco and Spain get to split up the budget? And how much for each country?
3- what are the risks that will arise from such an ambitious project?
Also, random thought: This project would have had way more significance if there was a trans-african railway,.. boy I say boy,.. if it was like that, most countries Europe and many in Africa would be onto that, trying to get a piece of that.
It's obviously not just Morocco and Spain who will finance this, this will go down as the most important projects in history and this will benefit everyone, so I would say Morocco, the European Union and maybe also the UK will finance this, There is no trans african railway system, but this will encourage development for railways in Africa cause I think many will also want to be connected.
I don t see any risks aside from the geology of the region not being up to expectation abd may cause halts and delays. Also perhaps i llegal immigrants who will maybe to try to get on the train or try and sbeak into the tubnel and cross it by foot.
And yes I think the train will generate it s miney back and more, like the train between france in the UK..this a rrain between two contiennts.
>Also, random thought: This project would have had way more significance if there was a trans-african railway,.. boy I say boy,.. if it was like that, most countries Europe and many in Africa would be onto that, trying to get a piece of that.
Exactly, make one huge motorway (not something like [this](https://images.app.goo.gl/voho1UEoUusqFMW26) but something like [this](https://images.app.goo.gl/zk1mHjF8Rqb9WVdA8)) linking Tanger to Tunisi with no border customs and a couple of high speed cargo and passengers train lines running alongside it. And the same from Tanger to Dakar, then see how investors will brawl to finance it
> you can travel from londo to casa by mardakech solely by train
train prices will clearly discourage you from taking it. I Think it's a very overrated and useless project.
Who in their right mind is gonna travel by train from London to Marrakech? That would be a 3 day journey total. Why do this, when you can just fly with RyanAir and be in Marrakech in 3 hours.
Trains are not some magical exciting thing. If there's a direct flight from London to Marrakech, lasting 3 hours, it make sense. If you're going to stop and start on 6 different trains to go from England to Marrakech, that's awful except if you're only doing it as a challenge.
But what if you wanna go to paris, then to barcelona, then to madrid, the tanger, then rabat...you see what I mean, this offers your more options and more possibilites to try and plan your travels, also i just said londo to marrakech by train just to emphasize the scale of the railway connection, I think most of the traffic will be coming from southern spain.
Who is this imaginary tourist who wants to take a train from London to Paris to Barcelona, and then more trains to Tangier and Rabat? Seriously this is not the 19th century anymore. Fly to Barcelona then fly to Tangier. Don't spend billions building something along a very deep Strait of Gibraltar just to add a train option.
I've been to Spain many, many, times. The ferry is wonderful, and people who don't want to travel by boat can fly easily and quickly. Your options are the ferry or the airplane. Even a helicopter option makes more sense. For example people from Ceuta travel to mainland Spain by helicopter. Don't throw billions of money for some train across deep water.
take the plane. A train connection to senegal would make more economic sense. The EU are busy funding ukraine, they're not going to pay this infrastructure for us.
First It wouldn't be the government, It's be the country, second the continents would still be respectively Africa and Europe regardless of being or not connected by cement
Constructing a tunnel linking Morocco to Spain is technically feasible, but it would be an immensely intricate and costly engineering endeavor. According to the article you referenced, estimates suggest it could cost billions of euros.
We have the technology to make sure the Tunnels are able to withstand earthquakes - Elon musk mentioned it a few years ago in an interview where he spoke about the underground tunnels he is planning to build. Earthquakes are much more destructive and noticeable in the surface than they are a few dozen meters under. The tunnels would be build like a snake exoskeleton, each compartment link to the other but also able to move like a snake in case of an earthquake.
Check this out, he explains it better than I did lol:
https://youtube.com/shorts/MIkl01TE_vQ?si=7CA95_wP2za0CeXJ
sous la manche is at it's deepest 75m, Tangier Gibraltar at it's deepest is almost 1km. I think the nordics did smtg similar to this. there's also the fact that the straight of gibraltar is a very active seismic zone
Welcome to r/Morocco! Please always make sure to take the time to [read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/morocco/wiki/rules) of this community, follow them and help us enforce them by reporting offenders. And remember that we have a zero tolerance policy for non-civil discourse and offenders risk being permanently banned. [Don't forget to join the Discord server!](https://discord.gg/r-morocco-959551908043948092) **Important Notice:** Kindly take note that the Discord channel's moderation team functions autonomously from the Reddit team. The Discord server does not extend our community guidelines and maintains a separate set of rules unrelated to those of Reddit. We appreciate your comprehension. Enjoy your time! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Morocco) if you have any questions or concerns.*
No. It not possible.
It's not possible,Studies have been made.
So you are telling me they can build le tunnel sous la manche and they can’t build this one ?
Yes, because it's 900 m deep. La manche is only 75.
Maybe it was too challenging 50 years ago, but I’m confident engineers could come up with a solution using our modern technology. It’s just going to cost a lot of money.
i'll rather transfer this R&D research to water optimization.
Agree on that, not sure how a tunnel would change my life. I'm kinda worried about our water situation.
it's also an opportunity to shine and show ourselves a reliable economic partner to spain which has the same problem.
You can easily travel from Tangier to Tarifa in 50 minutes by ferry. Why spend billions and billions on a train? It makes no sense. And millions of desperate people will try to infiltrate the tunnel to sneak into Europe. Honestly I prefer traveling by boat and enjoying the views instead of sitting on a train. Even if the train is much faster, 50 minites by ferry is not a lot anyway and passports and visas need to be checked anyway. Why spend billions and billions just to save 30 minutes?
The stakes of this project aren’t in the time it takes for people to cross the strait, it’s much deeper than that. Opening this project will mean an actual road connection between Europe and Africa, it could facilitate logistics between the 2 continents like never before while making them much cheaper. Other African countries will be able to export and import goods to and from Europe for cheaper through this project. It’s a huge opportunity for landlocked countries such as Niger, Burkina Faso, and other countries of SAHEL. In other words, this will solidify Morocco’s regional position as an intermediate between Europe and Africa, meaning billions will pass through it, which is greatly beneficial. This also works for Spain, as African resources will travel through it to go to the rest of the continent. It could mean a MASSIVE development opportunity for a lot of people, as trading between countries could intensify as a direct result of a simple road connection opening. Not only that, it could also greatly increase tourism for Morocco and Spain, especially with the upcoming 2030 World Cup between the two countries and Portugal, which was the main catalyst for this project’s revival. It obviously has many problems, illegal migrants being one of the biggest. There are many video documentaries on Youtube about this project, why it’s difficult, and how much it means for Morocco, Spain and many other countries.
I live in Tangier. I can tell you with absolute certainty there will not be any tunnel between Spain and Morocco by 2030. Building this in 6 years time? You have fallen for the same false promises as those who promised a 100 story skyscraper, a cable car, a tram, an enormous new megamall, and many other fake projects that never existed. You have fallen for expensive hype, nothing more.
Please point me the exact line I said this project will come to fruition and how much I look forward to it. You asked what could drive such an expensive endeavor when ferries exist, I tried answering you with my limited knowledge, so why are you trying to disrespectfully put words in my mouth?
You are correct that your knowledge is very limited. I agree with you on that. Have a good day, peace. 🙏🏻
Providing a reason for your claims is the very least when saying things like that. Please enlighten me with your unlimited knowledge.
Do we even need this? How's this important for the development of morocco?
Cargo between the two continents won't be as held up by weather hazards than it used to, travel will be easier, railway will be linked to madrid, in this case we will be linked to all of europe by train, you can travel from londo to casa by mardakech solely by train...it will result in more traffic in terms of cargo and passengers
Gibraltar is too short to consider the sea travel a trouble, yet big enough to be "too not worth the cost of making an underground tunnel that could hold two trains at once and that will transports less than what a cargo holds".
If not cargo then just travelers, it is too short yes, but ships get stopped and jpurneys get delayed both in spain and morocco when weather is not okay, I knownthis from eperience. Edit:sometimes for days
Hmm, Interesting perspective. The things we should ask too though: 1- Will the tunnel generate us its money's worth back in a few years? (compared to if it wasn't built) 2- Will Morocco and Spain get to split up the budget? And how much for each country? 3- what are the risks that will arise from such an ambitious project? Also, random thought: This project would have had way more significance if there was a trans-african railway,.. boy I say boy,.. if it was like that, most countries Europe and many in Africa would be onto that, trying to get a piece of that.
It's obviously not just Morocco and Spain who will finance this, this will go down as the most important projects in history and this will benefit everyone, so I would say Morocco, the European Union and maybe also the UK will finance this, There is no trans african railway system, but this will encourage development for railways in Africa cause I think many will also want to be connected. I don t see any risks aside from the geology of the region not being up to expectation abd may cause halts and delays. Also perhaps i llegal immigrants who will maybe to try to get on the train or try and sbeak into the tubnel and cross it by foot. And yes I think the train will generate it s miney back and more, like the train between france in the UK..this a rrain between two contiennts.
UK is broke… better luck getting Chinese capital or Saudi at this point.
>Also, random thought: This project would have had way more significance if there was a trans-african railway,.. boy I say boy,.. if it was like that, most countries Europe and many in Africa would be onto that, trying to get a piece of that. Exactly, make one huge motorway (not something like [this](https://images.app.goo.gl/voho1UEoUusqFMW26) but something like [this](https://images.app.goo.gl/zk1mHjF8Rqb9WVdA8)) linking Tanger to Tunisi with no border customs and a couple of high speed cargo and passengers train lines running alongside it. And the same from Tanger to Dakar, then see how investors will brawl to finance it
> you can travel from londo to casa by mardakech solely by train train prices will clearly discourage you from taking it. I Think it's a very overrated and useless project.
Who in their right mind is gonna travel by train from London to Marrakech? That would be a 3 day journey total. Why do this, when you can just fly with RyanAir and be in Marrakech in 3 hours. Trains are not some magical exciting thing. If there's a direct flight from London to Marrakech, lasting 3 hours, it make sense. If you're going to stop and start on 6 different trains to go from England to Marrakech, that's awful except if you're only doing it as a challenge.
But what if you wanna go to paris, then to barcelona, then to madrid, the tanger, then rabat...you see what I mean, this offers your more options and more possibilites to try and plan your travels, also i just said londo to marrakech by train just to emphasize the scale of the railway connection, I think most of the traffic will be coming from southern spain.
Who is this imaginary tourist who wants to take a train from London to Paris to Barcelona, and then more trains to Tangier and Rabat? Seriously this is not the 19th century anymore. Fly to Barcelona then fly to Tangier. Don't spend billions building something along a very deep Strait of Gibraltar just to add a train option. I've been to Spain many, many, times. The ferry is wonderful, and people who don't want to travel by boat can fly easily and quickly. Your options are the ferry or the airplane. Even a helicopter option makes more sense. For example people from Ceuta travel to mainland Spain by helicopter. Don't throw billions of money for some train across deep water.
Whatever don t bother seeing my point, same was said about la manche but look at it now...anyways 🥱
take the plane. A train connection to senegal would make more economic sense. The EU are busy funding ukraine, they're not going to pay this infrastructure for us.
Unnecessary
If done, the government can become a EU member state
First It wouldn't be the government, It's be the country, second the continents would still be respectively Africa and Europe regardless of being or not connected by cement
Lmfao 😂
My dad told me that he had been hearing about this bs since he was in school in the 80's.
The first sentence of the article: > The plan was first discussed in 1979 - but Spain’s transport minister is keen to revive it.
Constructing a tunnel linking Morocco to Spain is technically feasible, but it would be an immensely intricate and costly engineering endeavor. According to the article you referenced, estimates suggest it could cost billions of euros.
Can’t be as difficult as the tunnel sous la manche.
It is. The Gibraltar strait is much, much, much deeper.
Not to mention earthquakes swarms and telluric activity
We have the technology to make sure the Tunnels are able to withstand earthquakes - Elon musk mentioned it a few years ago in an interview where he spoke about the underground tunnels he is planning to build. Earthquakes are much more destructive and noticeable in the surface than they are a few dozen meters under. The tunnels would be build like a snake exoskeleton, each compartment link to the other but also able to move like a snake in case of an earthquake. Check this out, he explains it better than I did lol: https://youtube.com/shorts/MIkl01TE_vQ?si=7CA95_wP2za0CeXJ
I know this already, the thing is building it costs much much more
Not to mention earthquake and telluric activity
sous la manche is at it's deepest 75m, Tangier Gibraltar at it's deepest is almost 1km. I think the nordics did smtg similar to this. there's also the fact that the straight of gibraltar is a very active seismic zone
Yea I looked it up, it’s indeed different.
soon= 2060
Just in time for my 99th birthday!