CZECH REPUBLIC: The European Investment Bank has signed a KC3·43bn loan agreement with ČD Cargo to support the acquisition of 50 electric locomotives and 140 intermodal wagons as well as retrofitting around 310 older locomotives with ERTMS.
The assets purchased as part of the project will be partly used in Convergence Regions in the Czech Republic and largely on the TEN-T network. Investment related to ERTMS could be complemented by a grant component from the CEF Transport Blending Facility, which is designed to promote projects contributing to environmental sustainability and efficiency.
‘Our partnership with ČD Cargo will improve the capacity, safety and quality of freight services in the Czech Republic’, explained EIB Vice-President Lilyana Pavlova on December 18. ‘By promoting a shift from road to rail transport, this project will have a positive impact on the environment and will thus contribute to supporting the transition of the Czech Republic to a low-carbon economy, in line with the objectives of our recently approved EIB Climate Bank Roadmap and of the Transport Policy of the Czech Republic.’
‘We are delighted to sign our first ever agreement with the EIB’, said ČD Cargo Chairman Tomáš Tóth. ‘It comes after an extensive process that allowed the EU bank to better know our company and positively assess its potential for growth. The long-term lending approach and the distinctive, favourable terms of the EIB loan will allow ČD Cargo to invest in its future with a sustainable growth perspective.’
