\u201cWe\u2019ve got the money. We\u2019re a rich state<\/a>,\u201d Brown proclaimed in May 2025. \u201cWe got $4 trillion in gross domestic product. Spain has less domestic product. They got one. France has a lower domestic product. They\u2019ve got one.\u201d As Californians should know, so does Morocco, a nation with a\u00a0GDP of $194 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n Launched in 2018, the\u00a0Al Boraq Line<\/a>, is the first high-speed rail system on the African continent. At 200 mph, the trains\u00a0cut travel time from Casablanca to Tangier from four hours and 45 minutes to just two hours and 10 minutes.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a foreigner, fares are cheap,\u201d notes\u00a0travel writer Phillip Mallis<\/a>. So Morocco\u00a0should be \u201ca place on the list to visit for rail fans.\u201d The initial stretch cost approximately $2-4 billion, and a major expansion is in the works.<\/p>\n The\u00a0$10.3 billion plan<\/a>\u00a0will include a line to Marrakesh and aim for completion before the 2030 World Cup soccer tournament, to be jointly hosted by Morocco, Spain and Portugal. At an\u00a0estimated 217 mph,<\/a>\u00a0the trains will take only 35 minutes to reach Casablanca from Rabat,\u00a0and\u00a0Casablanca to Tangier will take only one hour and 40 minutes.<\/p>\n Morocco collaborated closely with France on the project. The trains meet all European standards and future routes could connect Morocco with Spain and Paris.<\/p>\n California\u2019s bullet train aimed to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco, but even if completed as planned the train would have been slower and more expensive than air travel. Merced to Bakersfield is not a high-travel route for Californians or foreign tourists. The track, slated for 2032-34, has yet to be built and the bullet train has yet to carry a single passenger.<\/p>\n An African country in the so-called developing world easily outstrips the allegedly \u201crich state\u201d of California. After nearly two decades, the so-called Golden State is all talk and no track.\u00a0For Ohanian, California\u2019s high-speed rail could be one of the\u00a0biggest public policy failures<\/a>\u00a0in state history, but there\u2019s another contender.<\/p>\n Morocco collaborated with France and other European countries that had already experienced in high-speed\u00a0trains. For\u00a0the\u00a0new span of the Bay Bridge from San Francisco to Oakland, California hired China\u2019s state-owned\u00a0Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC), which at the time had never built a single bridge.<\/p>\n The project came in 10 years late, $5 billion over budget, and riddled with safety issues such as faulty welds, broken bolts and corroded rods. When Gov. Brown got word of the issues he said, \u201cI mean, look, sh\u2013 happens<\/a>.\u201d Nothing like that from Brown or Gov. Newsom on the train that goes nowhere and carries nobody.<\/p>\n California would do better to stop the rail project and use the money to build new roads, fix the potholes and add a third lane to Interstate 5 in the Central Valley.<\/p>\n Lloyd\u00a0Billingsley\u00a0is a policy fellow at the\u00a0Independent Institute<\/a>\u00a0in Oakland, Calif.<\/p>\n Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/p>\n California Post News: Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, X<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, WhatsApp<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0805c7068186d0cf7d245b481384f82d.jpeg\"\/)
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