Nador railway stations

The city of Nador in Morocco has two railway-stations: Nador Ville and Nador South. Further on the line there is also a station at Beni Anşār / Aït Nsar and the terminal Beni Anşār / Aït Nsar Port, which is generally indicated as Nador Port station. As with all railway stations in Morocco, these stations are operated by ONCF, Morocco's national railway operator.

Gare Nador Ville main entrance
Gare Nador South main entrance

Nador Ville railway station is the main station and serves the single track line through the city. The station was opened on 10 July 2009 by King Mohammed VI, together with the town's other station Nador South and the line to Tawrirt.[1] Within the city limits of Nador, the track runs through a tunnel under the main south–north road into Nador. Between 2006 and the completion of the line in 2009, the major construction works which were carried out in the city caused disruption to traffic along one of the major through-roads of this busy city.

The railway line doesn't terminate in Nador (even when the name of the line is Taourirt-Nador) but past Nador Ville there are two more stations: Beni Ansar / Aït Nsar (or Bin Anşār) Ville and Beni Ansar / Aït Nsar Port. The tunnel ends at the site of Nador Ville station - and continues deepened within Nador being at street-level in Beni Ansar / Aït Nsar and Beni Ansar Port which is the terminus of the line and is often called Gare Nador Port as the port in Beni Ansar / Aït Nsar is the Port of Nador.[2]

Construction
Sign regarding building railway and tunnels for it through Nador

The construction of the 117 kilometer track to Taourirt cost 1.776 million dirham (approximately €180 million). This averages to 15 MDh per kilometer. The line is relatively expensive because it has to run from the 400m-above-sea-level in the Rif mountains to Nador, which is at sea level.[3] The construction of the underground track and station platforms also required more money than a ground-level track.[4]

Connection to the core network
Sign showing daily departures from Nador Ville
Platform 1 (plat 2 has no tracks) looking South

The Nador line connects to the core rail network at Taourirt. At this point the line connects to the major east–west line that runs from Oujda via Fez and Meknes to the capital, Rabat, and the commercial capital, Casablanca. Every day there are 4 trains towards and from Nador. One starts and one terminates in Taorirt - where you can transfer to/from the west–east train Fez-Oujda. One terminates in Fez, one in Casablanca (via Fez and Rabat) and one in Tanger (via Fez).

Stations on Nador branch line

The branch-line to/from Nador connects to the main east–west line near Taourirt. As most of the track between Oujda and Fez there is only one track; only at stations there can be more tracks to allow trains passing (Nador Ville only has one track: there is a 2nd platform, but no rails laid yet). The single track is not electrified: trains on this route change in Fez from electric to diesel-powered locomotives.

The stations are:

There are some additional stops on the route but they are not in a city or even village: these stops offer train connections for the rural villages in the area.

The line goes through the Rif mountains: Nador lies at sea-level while Taourirt is really in the mountains.

Timetable Nador trains[5]
Departure
Nador
Taorirt
Fes
Casablanca
Tanger
08:4310:2714:4018:45n/a
12:2814:1218:3022:45n/a
17:43 (†)-01:00-07:00
19:43 (†)-01:0006:15n/a
Departure
Casablanca
Tanger
Fez
Taorirt		Arrivee
Nador
19:45 (†)-00:15-06:00
-21:35 (†)02:3007:4509:32
06:15-10:3515:2017:03
13:15-17:1521:3023:13
Notes: (†): Night-train with (double) sleep-compartments.

The journey to Taourirt takes just over an hour, but as the train changes direction there (by moving the locomotive to the other end of the train) the departure from Taourirt is approximately 2 hours after departing Nador. Between Nador and Taourirt there are several stops such as Selouane, Hassi Berkane and Oulad Babou. Most trains continue to Fez or Casablanca (station Casablanca Voyageurs, one daily train terminates in Taorirt and requiring a change to a train from Oujda to continue further to the west toward Casa-Voyageurs) which takes approximately 12 hours.[6]

Travelers to Nador can arrive at approximately 08:15, 17:00 or 22:15.[6]

References
  1. King Mohammed VI opens Nador railway Archived 2009-08-28 at the Wayback Machine, visited 4 August 2009
  2. Station names from the route-planner on the ONCF Homepage Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine, visited 9 March 2011
  3. Height-info obtained from Google Earth mapinfo
  4. Budget information from the official Government of Morocco portal Maroc.ma Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved on 5 August 2009
  5. ONCF Website Ligne Nador-Casablanca Archived 2010-12-01 at the Wayback Machine, French, visited 20 June 2011
  6. Train and travel times according to ONCF Timetable visited on 4 August 2009 Archived 14 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
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