EIB’s €600m figure for Ile de France transport modernisation

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Philippe de Fontaine Vive Curtaz, Vice-president of the European Investment Bank, Jean-Paul Huchon, President of the Ile-de-France regional STIF and Sophie Mougard, Director General of the STIF, today in Paris signed a financial contract of a 600 million euro figure for the renewal and modernisation of the rolling stock currently in service on the Ile de France regional railway network.

This will be STIF’s first loan to finance it’s investments.

The project is aimed at modernising the rolling stock and improving its performance to meet the needs of the travelling public. This high performance programme, of which the total cost is estimated at more than 2 billion euros is to be financed 50% by the STIF and 50% by the SNCF. The financing from the European Investment Bank allows:

. The acquisition of 172 electric engines and 24 AGC (large capacity rail cars).

. The renovation of double decker trains on the RER C and D lines.

This project will contribute and raise the capacity of the rail network and considerably improve its reliability, speed and passenger comfort. A quality service will offer people the incentive to make greater use of public transport thereby reducing the effects of urban transport on the environment and contributing towards the struggle against climatic change.

Monsieur Philippe de Fontaine Vive, Vice President of the European Investment Bank, is delighted to be signing these terms: “I am delighted to be part of this first transaction between the European Investment Bank and the STIF to modernise the rail network of the region. It demonstrates the support of Europe towards long-lasting urban transport. In fact, the development of rail transport makes towards a European priority and is an essential element of economical development, social and human, in response to a real demand for a good quality of daily life for millions of inhabitants of the Ile-de-France. The European Investment Bank is a longstanding financial partner and this operation is the first partnership which will bring about a reinforcement in the future of this region.

The granting of this loan continues to register priority actions lead by the European Investment Bank, historically via the development of high speed rail lines which link Paris to London, Brussels, Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Geneva, Marseille … and more and more lines of a regional level. In 2009 more than a billion euros were dedicated to the collective modernisation of transport. In this way the European Investment Bank financed projects of urban transport in Lyon, Bordeaux and Paris for the extension of tramway line T3 in areas of the capital, between la Porte d’Ivry and the Porte de la Chapelle. In 2010 the European Investment Bank financed tramways in Dijon and Brest.

Jean-Paul Huchon, President of the Ile-de-France region and President of the STIF recalls that “ in 2006 when the regional government took control of public transport in the Ile-de-France we faced 30 years of under investing in infrastructure as well as the trains themselves. One of the first measures that the STIF decide to carry out is to raise the standards of the network with an objective: that by 2016 all French trains will be new, or renovated ones of less than ten year’s old. And they will be!”

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