High-Speed around the world - Historical, geographical, and technological development

Our previous brochure was published in May 2018 for the 10th World High-Speed Congress in Ankara, Turkey. The current edition supports the 11th Congress, which will be held in Marrakech, Morocco, on 7-10 March 2023. ONCF and UIC are jointly organising the congress and have decided that the theme will be “High-Speed Rail: The Right Speed for our Planet”.

The last Congress was held under different circumstances, most notably before the COVID-19 pandemic which affected the whole world and the transport sector in particular.

Trains, and more specifically high-speed trains, remain a major asset and an efficient tool for medium and long-distance travel. Moreover, the pandemic did not stop the development of the global high-speed network, which increased by more than a third from 44,000km in 2017 to around 59,000km in 2022. While China contributed the most to this expansion (with just over 10,000km), other countries have also been very active. No country has become complacent after building the first section of a new line, development continues all over the world.

A chapter of this brochure is dedicated to Morocco and the ONCF, who are hosting the Congress.