The Arab world's first high-speed train network could be running within 25 years.
Work could begin in Morocco next year on the 185mph lines which would run from the Mediterranean almost to the Sahara desert.
Rail operator ONCF's managing director Mohammad Rabie Khlie said trains would run from Tangier in the north via Marrakesh to Agadir in the south, and from Casablanca on the Atlantic to Oujda on the Algerian border.
"Marrakesh to Tangier in two and a half hours," said Khlie. "It's as if the country's shrinking."
"A high-speed rail network would put us in the rail industry's big league."
If the plans are approved, the 900 miles of track may take until 2030 to complete at a cost of £5billion.
Khlie said plans mooted years ago for a tunnel from Europe to Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar were still on course.
"A Moroccan-Spanish committee is working very hard on this issue and it’s going very well," he said. "We feel quite a clear willingness on the Spanish side to push things forward."
The tunnel would allow European trains to travel through to Marrakesh.
After years of restructuring with the help of loans from the World Bank, European Investment Bank and foreign governments, ONCF began turning a consolidated profit from 2004, giving it the financial muscle to embark on a broad expansion.
ONCF will become a company next year, with a 50-year concession to operate the existing national network.
But Khlie said: "The priority today is not any privatisation but to develop the network."
The United Arab Emirates is also reported to be studying the feasibility of a high-speed rail line between its airports in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Info from reuters