Tangier 11, 1945. In July 1952 the protecting powers met at Rabat to discuss the Zone's future, agreeing to abolish it. Tangier joined with the rest of Morocco following the restoration of full sovereignty in 1956. At the time of the handover, Tangier had a population of around 40,000 Muslims; 31,000 Christians; and 15,000 Jews. Still basking in the Zone's countercultural glow and close by the kif-producing Rif Mountains, Tangier formed part of the hippie trail of the 1960s and '70s. It became less popular and tourist attractions grew run down as cheap flights made central Moroccan cities like Marrakesh more
Transport in Morocco be approved, the 1,500 kilometres of track may take until 2035 to complete at a cost of around 100 billion dirhams ($10 billion). Potential speed gains are large, with travel time from Casablanca to Marrakesh down from 3 hours to 1:20, and from the capital Rabat to Tangier from 4:30 to 1:30. The second High-Speed Rail (HSR) which is planned to be built after Tangier-Kenitra is the HSR Marrakech-Essaouira (180 km) followed by a new HSR Rabat-Meknes (130 km). The last high-speed lines will connect these two old empire cities to the Atlantique coast in less than one hour instead