UK: The European Investment Bank signed a corporate loan facility on December 13 which will provide Transport for London with up to £500m to finance the rolling stock fleet and depot for Crossrail. This follows a £1bn EIB loan for the construction of the Crossrail tunnels which was agreed in 2009.
Bombardier Transportation, CAF and Hitachi Rail Europe are bidding for the contract to supply around 600 electric multiple-unit cars and associated maintenance facilities for Crossrail.
In March TfL dropped plans for private finance to meet the majority of the estimated £1bn cost of the rolling stock contract, which is expected to be awarded in spring 2014. Delivery and testing are scheduled to start in 2017, ready for the opening of the new tunnels in late 2018.
