The Railway Training Institute (IFF) organized on November 24, 2017 an open day for African railway operators, as well as Moroccan companies and universities. About 150 participants attended, representing more than 20 organizations from the railway world, manufacturers and academics from different countries (7 African networks: Senegal, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Congo and Burkina Faso)

Mr. Mohammed SMOUNI, Director of Development (ONCF) opened the day recalling the context of the creation of  IFF resulting from the partnership between ONCF and SNCF within the framework of the LGV Maroc project, while evoking the state progress of the LGV Maroc project, which is entering its final phase before the start of operation scheduled for summer 2018.

Nathalie AMIRAULT, Held of the Expertise Development Unit at UIC (Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer), made a presentation on UIC’s strategy in the field of training, focusing on the Africa region , with a specific reference to the UIC document “A new breath for Destination 2040”.

Saïd CHANDID, Strategy and Communication Director (ONCF), for his part highlighted the strategic plan for the development of rail networks in Africa adopted by the UIC Region Africa, with a presentation of the regional train project in Senegal (between Dakar and Blaise Diagne International Airport).

Finally, the members of IFF management board, Karim CHENNOUF and Christophe MARTIN gave a detailed presentation of IFF’s activities, followed by explanations and demonstrations of the teaching and didactic methods used at IFF: the driving simulator, the virtual reality applied to train traffic, practical equipment maintenance rooms (fault finding by ultrasound or magnetic particle inspection in particular), the brake test room.  IFF also presented its various training programs, available on the website www.iff-ma.com In the afternoon, the participants were able to visit the LGV Maroc work base located in Kenitra (50 km north of Rabat ) to see concretely the LGV construction project.