EIB Backs Renfe’s Rail Modernization with €225 Million Financing

EIB Backs Renfe’s Rail Modernization with €225 Million Financing

(IN BRIEF) The European Investment Bank (EIB) is set to provide €225 million in financing to Renfe for the modernization of its high-speed and freight trains. The funding includes a €125 million loan to renew the high-speed fleet, involving the purchase of power heads and the transformation of coaches into high-speed trains. Additionally, a €100 million loan will support Renfe’s freight subsidiary, enabling the purchase of electric locomotives, intermodal service wagons, ERTMS implementation, and noise reduction measures. The EIB and Renfe’s collaboration aligns with sustainable transport goals, reducing congestion, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions while promoting rail transport.

(PRESS RELEASE) LUXEMBOURG, 23-Jan-2024 — /EuropaWire/ — The European Investment Bank (EIB) will finance a new project to upgrade Renfe’s high-speed and freight trains through two loans totalling €225 million.

The first of the new operations includes the purchase of 26 power heads and the transformation of 156 coaches into 13 high-speed variable gauge series 107 trains. The total estimated cost of the project is €260 million, of which €125 million will be financed by the EIB.

The second loan of €100 million will go to projects run by the Renfe freight subsidiary. It will be used to purchase 24 electric locomotives and wagons for intermodal services, and to implement the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) in some existing locomotives and noise reduction measures for 2 900 wagons. The total estimated cost of the project is €212 million.

The financing agreement, which was signed at the end of 2023, has now been endorsed in Madrid at a meeting between Renfe President Raúl Blanco and EIB Operations Director for Spain and Portugal Gilles Badot. For many years, the EIB has been financing a large portion of Renfe’s rolling stock purchases under its Sustainable Cities and Regions public policy goal.

The two entities work closely together on projects that promote long-term investments in sustainable transport and a modal shift towards rail transport, and that have benefits for the environment, helping to reduce road traffic congestion, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Some of Renfe’s most significant EIB-financed investments include the purchase of high-speed trains from Talgo and Siemens (series 103, 112, 106 and 130), and commuter and medium-distance trains from CAF and Alstom, among others.

Background information

The EIB and sustainable transport

The EIB finances projects that drive greener, safer and more accessible transport, in line with its Transport Lending Policy, updated in July 2022 following the adoption of the Climate Bank Roadmap and the European Green Deal. This policy sets the investment priorities needed to surmount the challenges facing the transport sector, and those most apt to power the shift to a more sustainable model. Sustainable transport is based on four interdependent pillars: It must be safe, accessible, green and efficient.

Find out more about the EIB’s support for the transport sector here.

Renfe

Renfe Operadora is one of the leading railway companies in Europe. In 2023 it achieved the second highest figure in its history in passenger transport and is one of the most important freight transport operators in Spain. The company is immersed in a transformation process, with the purchase of 406 new commuter and medium-distance trains and the modernization of the high-speed train fleet (43 high-speed trains are expected to be gradually incorporated into service in the immediate future. series 106 and 107) and freight trains. The company is committed to sustainability as the central axis of its development strategy. In this sense, the passenger transport that Renfe carries out has the ‘Carbon Neutral’, Zero emissions, certification from AENOR.

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SOURCE: European Investment Bank