This is a list of planned, or proposed, high-speed rail projects by country. Although a number of countries have conducted preliminary feasibility studies, many lines are eventually shelved or postponed due to high costs; only a few nations are building high-speed rail lines. Planned (or proposed) lines are separated here from lines under construction, and some countries have both. High-speed rail is public transport by rail at speeds over 200 km/h (125 mph).General definitions of highspeed. uic.asso.fr/ 28 November 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2007.
Africa
Integrated network
In 2013, the African Union (AU) passed Agenda 2063: a 50-year development trajectory which includes a continental free trade zone, a common passport, an end to armed conflict, an annual African economic forum, a space program, a Great African Museum, establishment of e-universities, and a high-speed rail network. Africa has the lowest rail density of any inhabited continents, with 16 countries lacking rail altogether (especially in Central Africa); most rail lines are single-track freight lines operating at 30|km/h, traveling from ports to industrial zones such as mines and forests.
The AU signed a memorandum of understanding with China in 2014 for the 30– to 50-year development of a continental rail system connecting all African capitals with modern rail technology, facilitating interoperability by using one gauge instead of the current nine. The network's goal is to facilitate intra-African trade and lower shipping costs. Its initial timeline for 2022 was the completion of preparatory work; only 12.3 percent of the network was studied, however, largely due to funding constraints. Completed pre-feasibility studies include the Cotonou-Niamey-Ouagadougou-Abidjan Railway, which would cost US$5.022 billion to build and rehabilitate and US$866 million to equip. The Djibouti-Libreville corridor was estimated to be long and cost $5.277 billion, and the Dakar-N'Djamena-Djibouti corridor was estimated to be in length and cost $14.05 billion. It has not yet been specified which rail lines would operate at , , or .
A master plan for 2033 envisions of rail construction with the following projects. The first three are accelerated pilot projects under study or construction. The objectives by 2033 are to connect 16 landlocked countries to seaports and connect regions with trans-Africa corridors. The 2043 master plan would expand the network to connect Africa's political and economic capitals by rail.
Accelerated pilot projects: Kigali-Dar Es Salaam: Kampala-Bujumbura: Walvis Bay-Windhoek-Gaborone-Johannesburg: 2033 master plan: Nairobi-Mombasa: Bamako-Ouagadougou-Niamey-N'Djamena-Khartoum: Addis Ababa-Djibouti: Pointe Noire-Brazzaville-Kinshasa-Bujumbura: Johannesburg-Maputo: Pretoria-Durban: Algiers-Abuja-Lagos: Lobito-Lusaka: N'Djamena-Bangui-Brazzaville-Luanda: Addis Ababa-Nairobi-Dodoma-Lusaka-Gaborone: Khartoum-Addis Ababa Luanda-Windhoek: Mbeya-Lilongwe-Harare-Johannesburg-Maseru: Lilongwe-Nacala: Lamu-Juba: Bangui-Juba: Juba-Kampala: 2033 pilot projects: Tunis-Algiers-Casablanca: Douala-Bangui Kampala-Nairobi Dakar-Bamako Asmara-Addis Ababa: Lusaka-Beira Alexandria-Khartoum Ouagadougou-Abidjan: Niamey-Cotonou: 2043 master plan: Alexandria-Benghazi-Tripoli-Tunis: Casablanca-Laayoune-Nouakchott-Dakar: Dakar-Banjul-Conakry-Monrovia-Abidjan-Accra-Lagos-Douala: Yaoundé-Bata-Libreville: Mogadishu-Addis Ababa Windhoek-Cape Town: Maseru-Cape Town: Tripoli-N'Djamena:
Algeria In 2012, ANESRIF began building a double-track electric high-speed railway reaching speeds of from Oued Tlélat (Oran) with stops in Sidi Bel-Abbès and Tlemcen. It was 80-percent completed by 2021, with 129 viaducts totaling and three tunnels totaling . The project was scheduled for completion in 2019, but faced delays due to problems with land acquisition and COVID-19 and was scheduled to open by the end of 2021. The administration began work on an extension from Tlemcen to Akkid Abbas (Maghnia) on the Moroccan border in 2015, a total of designed for speeds of . It was only seven percent completed by fall 2021, largely due to land-acquisition controversies in Tlemcen and Mansourah. This section will contain Africa's largest viaduct: the , M'dig Viaduct over the Isser River (near Aïn Fezza), with a tunnel into downtown Tlemcen and a renovated train station. The project is estimated to cost .
Egypt
On 12 March 2018, Egyptian Transport Minister Hisham Arafat said that Egypt was in the process of launching a new high-speed railway linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea in partnership with more than 10 international companies. In September 2020, a Chinese-Egyptian consortium consisting of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, the Egyptian Samcrete and the Arab Organization for Industrialization received US$9 billion to build a high-speed railway capable of top speeds of . The electric-powered trains would be manufactured in Port Said with a Chinese technology transfer to Egypt.
The first was planned to begin in Mersa Matruh on the Mediterranean Sea and pass through Al-Alamein, Borg El Arab, Wadi El Natroun and 6th of October through southern Cairo to the New Administrative Capital, ending in Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea's Gulf of Suez. Surveying and route planning were completed and construction began on bridges and track by January 2021. This initial segment, intended for passengers and freight, is projected to cost $3 billion and has a completion date of 2023. On 14 January 2021, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Siemens Mobility and the Transportation Ministry's National Authority of Tunnels to design, install, and maintain Egypt's first high-speed rail system. A second line between Alexandria and Borg El Arab was included in the contract, and both were under construction in 2022. The Siemens-led consortium received a $4.5 billion contract to build the lines from Ain Sokhna to Marsa Matruh and to Alexandria in September 2021, which are scheduled for completion in 2027. The lines will use Velaro high-speed passenger trains. The segment will be designed to carry up to 30 million passengers annually, cut travel times in half, and reduce carbon emissions by 70 percent. In February 2023, the French construction company NGE signed a contract to build of the line between Ain Sokhna and Borg El Arab with 100 turnouts.
A second line will run from the city of 6 October through Fayoum, Minya, Aswan, and Abu Simbel over along the west bank of the Nile. Local stations will include Al-Ayat, Al-Fashn, Al-Adwa, Bani Mazar, Samalout, Abu Qurqas, Mallawi, and Dayrout. Survey and construction work for the line began in March 2022 by Egyptian authorities, focusing on the area around 6 October and Fayoum, with an anticipated design speed of and preliminary operation of express trains at . An extension of the line was announced in May 2022 from Aswan through Abu Simbel to Toshka and Sharq El Owainat in the Western Desert, as well as an extension to Wadi Halfa in Sudan. The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development signed a $2.45 million feasibility study for a line from Aswan to Toshka and Abu Simbel, as well as an extension to Sudan which includes a bridge across Lake Nasser. In early 2023, the Transport Ministry said that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi approved the extension from Aswan to Abu Simbel with five high-speed rail stations and seven regional stations planned between Luxor and Abu Simbel.
A third line is planned in the south from Safaga through Sahl Hasheesh, Hurghada, East Sohag, Qena, and Qus to Luxor at a total cost of $2.7 billion, with a construction time of two years. Contracts for the second and third lines were planned to be signed by Siemens in March 2022; the €8.1 billion contract was signed on May 31, 2022, between the Egyptian government and Siemens (and its consortium partners Orascom Construction and Arab Contractors), and includes construction of the second and third lines, 41 Velaro eight-car high-speed passenger trains, 94 Desiro high-capacity four-car regional trainsets, 41 Vectron freight locomotives, a level-2 European Train Control System and a suitable power grid. The network is projected to cost $23 billion and span over .
A planned extension eastwards from Marsa Matruh through El Negaila to Sallum on the Libyan border to Benghazi in Libya was announced by Egyptian Transport Minister Kamel Al-Wazir in November 2020, and was confirmed by the Libyan-Egyptian Chamber of Commerce on 18 January 2021. An extension to Siwa was also cited. Al-Wazir reiterated the Egyptian government's commitment to future extensions to Wadi Halfa in Sudan and Benghazi in Libya in March 2023 at the World High Speed Rail Conference in Marrakesh. This is part of the Egyptian government's larger plan to build political and economic links with Libya and Sudan, including Wadi Halfa.
Libya Before the 2011 Libyan Revolution, the government of Muammar Gaddafi was building a high-speed rail line capable of operation from the Tunisian border to the Egyptian border at a total cost of $7.9 billion. Russian Railways had received the $2.9 billion contract for the section between Sirte and Benghazi, with an anticipated completion in 2012; at least of the planned line was laid. China Railway had been working on a $2.6 billion link between Sirte and Khums, with plans for extension westwards to Tripoli. In 2010, the Libyan government proposed a feasibility study for a $2 billion high-speed rail line between Benghazi and Tobruk which was expected to be completed by 2012. Trains were to run on diesel fuel, with electrification planned. Dorsch Afrique was also involved in designing a high-speed connection between Tobruk and Umm Saad, on the Egyptian border. Three kilometers of high-speed track were finished, including a station in Tripoli and one kilometer of tunnels, and 30 kilometers had been cleared in 2003. The rail line's steel, however, was plundered during the civil war.
The Libyan government has tried to resume the project several times. In 2015, Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni visited Moscow and set up a review commission. The Libyan government approached Russia in 2018 to resume construction on the Sirte-Benghazi line, and Russian Railways responded that Tripoli would have to compensate the company for costs incurred after the project was halted in 2011. In January 2021, the Egyptian government announced plans to extend its proposed high-speed link from Alamein through El Salloum to Benghazi.
Morocco
A trans-Maghreb high-speed rail line linking Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia is planned. The project is expected to begin in Morocco, move towards Algiers, and reach Tunis. However, historical relations between Morocco and Algeria have delayed the project. Part of the line opened by November 2018, and Al Boraq (between Casablanca and Tangier) is Africa's second high-speed rail line, after the Gautrain in linking Pretoria with Sandton in South Africa.
By 2040, Morocco plans to build a route from Kenitra to Marrakech for 40 billion MAD (USD$4 billion) to upgrade the current Kenitra-Casablanca segment to high-speed, and to build a route from Marrakech to Agadir for 50 billion MAD (USD$5 billion). China Railway expressed interest in the latter project to the Moroccan government in the summer of 2021. In March 2022, after completion of design studies for the Marrakech-Agadir project, a Korea National Railway-led consortium secured a $32 billion contract with ONCF (Moroccan National Railways) for section three of the planned line. In April 2024, Morocco announced the issuance of a tender for the construction of the 375 km high-speed railway between Kenitra and Marrakech. In August 2024, the contract for the line to Marrakech was awarded to the French Egis Group with a planned opening of 2029.