EUROPE: A total of €1·8bn of financing for rail and road transport projects was approved by the European Investment Bank on October 18.
The rail projects are:
- €20m for infrastructure modernisation in Poland, including station, signalling and level crossing upgrade projects;
- €650m for upgrading routes to Polish ports;
- €133m to upgrade tram services in the Rhein-Neckar region of Germany;
- €390m for the procurement of inter-city rolling stock for services between Paris and Normandie.
Separately, on October 20 EIB and Spanish high speed infrastructure manager ADIF Alta Velocidad signed a €600m loan agreement which forms the first tranche of €1·03bn for the 160 km Basque Y project to link Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastián and to upgrade the 17 km route from San Sebastián to the French border. EIB had previously signed loans totalling €1·4bn for the Basque Y project in 2012 and 2013.
