The overall turnover of Morocco’s National Railways Office (ONCF) amounted to almost 903 million dirhams in Q1-2023, up 6% on the same period in 2022, confirming the good recovery in passenger activity and the resilience of freight one, which offset the decline in phosphate turnover.
This increase is due to the sustained performance of the passenger business, with 12.4 million passengers carried (+28% vs. Q1 2022) and sales of 514 million dirhams (+21% vs. Q1 2022), as well as a record for AL Boraq traffic, which exceeded 1 million passengers carried for the first time in the first quarter (+49% vs. Q1 2022), ONCF said in a press release.
This performance is also due to the positioning of rail transport as the preferred mode for economic operators, with 2.1 million tons of goods transported (+3% vs. Q1 2022) and sales of 147.9 million dirhams (+12% vs. Q1 2022).
Net income fell by 282 million dirhams, due to the weight of infrastructure capital costs, in line with ONCF's ambitious investment program, the same source reported.
