U.S. San Francisco Chronicle has hailed the rail travel experience on Morocco’s high-speed train “Al Boraq”, the first and only high-speed railway in Africa. Al Boraq is run by Morocco’s national rail company, ONCF. Before Al Boraq opened in 2018, the same route took 5 hours, the reporter said, noting that both of his Al Boraq trips were packed with young crowds. Morocco built a 323-kilometer line across floodplains, requiring 286 engineering structures and 13 viaducts—including the landmark 3.5-kilometer Hachef viaduct south of Tangier. This coastal line is merely Phase 1 of a 1,500-kilometer high-speed network, slated for completion by 2030, when Morocco is co-hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup, said the San Francisco Chronicle columnist.