The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a €500 million loan to Spanish rail company ADIF to finance the construction of the Y Vasca high-speed rail line. This is the first instalment of a total €1 billion EIB loan for the project. The loan will help to finance the construction of 140 km of rail line.

€500 million loan has been granted to Spanish rail company “Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias” (ADIF), the state entity responsible for building and managing rail infrastructure, to finance the construction of the Y Vasca high-speed rail line by the European Investment Bank (EIB). This is the first instalment of a total €1 billion EIB loan for the project. In June 2011, it was decided that high speed rail network studies in northern Spain receive EU funds.

The funding will help to finance the construction of 140 km of rail line linking the Basque Country’s three capital cities of Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastián. The project also includes the construction of junctions with the conventional line and access to the existing stations of Vitoria, Bilbao-Obando and San Sebastián-Atotxa. 70% of the line will be built in tunnels and the project is scheduled for completion in 2017.

The project will also be supported by EU funding as a priority trans-European transport network (TEN) that will connect the Iberian Peninsula to the rest of Europe. According to the EIB, it will improve the quality of rail connections between Madrid and the Basque Country and between Spain and France.