Luxembourg, 25/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) is to provide €300 million to finance the Madrid-Segovia-Valladolid high-speed train line. This is the EIB's fourth contribution to high-speed train lines in Spain, following the Madrid-Seville, Madrid-Barcelona and Córdoba-Málaga lines. It is also the first loan signed in Spain with an exceptionally long maturity of up to 50 years.
The new high-speed line will be 196 km long and will cut journey times from Madrid to Segovia and Valladolid to 28 and 54 minutes respectively. Scheduled for opening at the end of 2007, the line will seek to attract road users, with benefits in terms of traveller safety, time savings and the environment. The project includes one of the longest tunnels in Europe running nearly 30 km under the Guadarrama range. Valladolid will be provided with a temporary surface station until the opening of the new Campo Grande underground station in 2010. The project will form part of the trans-European high-speed line from Madrid to Vitoria and the French cities of Dax, Bordeaux and Tours, as well as the planned high-speed line to Porto (Portugal). As this is a priority EU initiative, the Spanish sections of the line will receive EU subsidies from the Cohesion, European Regional Development and Trans-European Networks Funds. The EU contributions to the project, including the EIB loan, will cover around 55% of the total investment cost.
In 2006 Spain was the largest recipient of EIB loans, totaling €7.65 billion. So far in 2007, Spanish firms have signed loans worth over €4.2 billion, making the country one of the EIB's foremost borrowers this year. (ol)