The European Investment Bank has approved a €500 million loan to Spanish rail infrastructure company ADIF to finance the construction of the Y Vasca high-speed rail line.
The loan amount will be used to fund the construction of 140km of rail line linking the Basque Country’s three main cities of Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastián.
The project also comprises of the construction of junctions with the conventional line and access to the existing stations of Vitoria, Bilbao-Obando and San Sebastián-Atotxa. In total, 70% of the line will be built in tunnels and the project is scheduled for completion in 2017.
The project is part of the priority Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) scheme that will connect the Iberian Peninsula to the rest of Europe, which means the project will also be supported by EU funding. The entire loan comprises of €1 billion ($1.24 billion) for the project. The present amount is the first tranche of the loan.
