EUR 77.6 million to Albacete-Alicante AVE high-speed railway line

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a loan to Albali Señalización, amounting to EUR 77.6 million, for the financing of the proposed signalling and telecommunications works on the Albacete-Alicante High-Speed Line (HSL).

The EIB/Albali Señalización financing agreement was signed on Friday 25 May in Madrid.

The loan will address some of the investment requirements of the first high-speed rail project put out to tender by ADIF under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.

The project involves the drafting of projects, execution of works and the maintenance and preservation of signalling and fixed telecommunications systems, centralised traffic control, civil defence and security, train protection systems, mobile GSM-R telephony and infrastructure for High-Speed Line public mobile telephone operators.

Apart from the EIB, this project has received subordinated financing from Axis-ICO. Albali Señalización, the project's special purpose vehicle, is owned by the French fund, CDC Infrastructure, the Spanish fund Fond-ICOinfraestructuras, Alstom, Emte, Isolux, Caf and ADIF.

The project forms part of the Madrid-Alicante High-Speed Railway, a corridor which the European Union considers a priority. Furthermore, the project meets economic and social cohesion objectives since the investment projects requiring financing are located in the Convergence regions of Castilla-La Mancha and Valencia.