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 Two images of the train, date unknown |
The Oriental Desert Express is a privately chartered tourist train offered between Oujda and Bouarfa, Morocco. [1] [2] It runs along a little-used railway line, and was featured in the 2015 film Spectre.
The 305-kilometre (190 mi) line used by the Oriental Desert Express was originally built in the 1920s and 1930s as part of the Mediterranean–Niger Railway, but is now only used twice a week by trains carrying zinc, lead, and copper from local mines. [2] [3] Edi Kunz, a Swiss citizen living in Morocco, learned of the line and worked with Moroccan authorities for three years to start a tourist train along it, overcoming questions from the Moroccan government over the use of a historical "prince's wagon" passenger car and from the Swiss embassy in Morocco over the train's viability. Kunz ended up committing five million euros to the project. [2] The first trip was made in 2006, [4] and the train ran twice annually in years like 2013 [5] and 2017. [6]
Outside camera shots of the Oriental Desert Express were featured in the 2015 James Bond film Spectre. [7]
As of 2024 [update] , the total travel time of the Oriental Desert Express can take between ten and twelve hours. [8]
From accounts in 2012 and 2016, the express began in Oujda in the early morning with an EMD GT26CW-2 locomotive, known locally as a DH-370, and a consist of cars that include both air conditioning and open windows. [2] [4] Traversing the Hautes Plaines, the train would make a stop at the small town of Tendrara, Tagmoḍant. While the train generally traveled at a speed of about 50 kilometers per hour (31 mph), travel time between Tendrara and Bouarfa could vary greatly due to unplanned stops to clear sand from the railroad track, for which the train carried diagonal shovels, and meeting nomadic tribes. [2] [4] [7] One such meeting was related by Neue Zürcher Zeitung:
... again the train stops. There are sheep outside and tents. We have arrived at nomads. The family leader invites us to tea in his tent. The women look at us curiously. But soon a conversation begins with hands and much laughter. The family belongs to the tribe of the Arabic-speaking Beni Guil, who have lived as nomads for over a thousand years. [4]
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to the east, and the disputed territory of Western Sahara to the south. Morocco also claims the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta, Melilla and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, and several small Spanish-controlled islands off its coast. It has a population of approximately 37 million. Islam is both the official and predominant religion, while Arabic and Berber are the official languages. Additionally, French and the Moroccan dialect of Arabic are widely spoken. Moroccan identity and culture is a mix of Arab, Berber, African and European cultures. Its capital is Rabat, while its largest city is Casablanca.
Demographic features of the population of Morocco include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. The population of Morocco in 2021 is 37.271 million.
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Rail transport in Morocco is operated by the national railway operator ONCF. It was initially developed during the protectorate.
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Spectre is a 2015 spy film and the twenty-fourth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. Directed by Sam Mendes and written by John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Jez Butterworth from a story conceived by Logan, Purvis, and Wade, it stars Daniel Craig as Bond, alongside Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Monica Bellucci, and Ralph Fiennes. It was distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. In the film, Bond battles Spectre, an international crime organisation led by Franz Oberhauser (Waltz).
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