Renfe has signed a financing agreement of 350 million euros with the Official Credit Institute (ICO), with funds from the European Investment Bank (EIB), for the purchase of trains for the commuter network.
The funds will go to the contract that the operator awarded to Alstom and Stadler to manufacture a maximum of 280 trains for 3,119 million euros, the largest in its history. The rest of the financing will come from Renfe’s own funds or, if necessary, from other lines of credit.
The trains are already in the manufacturing process by the winning companies (201 by Alstom and 79 by Stadler), and Renfe expects to start receiving the first units in 2024.
The new trains, which will be accessible to people with reduced mobility, will have a capacity of at least 900 seats each (20% more than the current Civia trains) and will minimize the time passengers get off and on, through a design with a minimum of ten doors and wide hallways.
Renfe has been financing the purchase of rolling stock for years with the EIB and Eurofima, entities with which it has a close collaborative relationship and with which it covers more than 50% of its long-term financing, which can be direct, as up to now , or mediated, as on this occasion with the mediation of the ICO.