A first EUR 100 million instalment of a EUR 300 million loan to finance the Brittany – Loire Region high-speed rail project was signed in Rennes by Philippe de Fontaine Vive, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), and Pierrick Massiot, President of the Brittany Region.
This signature brings the EIB’s total contribution to financing the Brittany – Loire Region high-speed rail project to €853 million, confirming its position as the leading public investor in this major trans-European network (TEN) upgrading and extension project.
The EIB’s contribution initially took the form of a EUR 553 million 25-year loan to a consortium led by Eiffage, which is responsible for building and ensuring the availability of the line under a PPP contract.
This EIB operation will now be backed up by direct loans to the Brittany Region, the lead regional authority financier of the Brittany – Loire Region high-speed rail project and the broader “Brittany High Speed” project.
In a contracting loan market, these long-maturity EIB loans on favourable terms have proved crucial to enabling the Brittany Region to optimise the project’s overall finance plan. At the same time, they are a testament to the Region’s financial strength and capacity to borrow to implement large-scale infrastructure projects.
This operation will help to finance the construction of a 182 km high-speed rail line between Le Mans and Rennes along with 32 km of connecting lines. The Brittany – Loire Region high-speed rail project represents the extension to Rennes and Nantes of the Paris – Le Mans high-speed train line opened in 1989. Its aim is to substantially improve train services to Brittany and the Loire Region, making them more accessible. Journey times from Paris toRennes will be cut by 37 minutes to under an hour and a half, benefiting towns and cities throughout Brittany. This project is key component of the plans to eventually reduce the journey time from Paris to the westernmost tip of Brittany to 3 hours.
Under the Brittany Region’s broader high-speed rail project, “Brittany High Speed”, the Rennes-Brest and Rennes-Quimper lines will also be upgraded to provide more frequent and faster rail services all the way to Cape Finisterre. This project is scheduled for delivery in September 2016, with the commercial opening of the new high-speed line planned for May 2017.
EIB Vice-President Philippe de Fontaine Vive underlined the loan’s importance with these words: “I am delighted that the EIB is once again participating in this innovative large-scale project. Its involvement is a decisive catalyst. Our task is to help the regional authorities finance their infrastructure projects to create a safer sustainable transport system, give a boost to neglected areas and provide greater access to trans-European networks and corridors.”
The President of the Brittany Region, Pierrick Massiot, added: “Brittany is one of the regional authorities that has invested most in building this infrastructure, which is essential to opening up our region. Considering the amounts at stake – EUR 830 million worth of regional investment under the “Brittany High Speed” project – obtaining reduced interest rate loans from the EIB was vital to the success of this project. The confidence shown in us by the EIB today is a testament to the Region’s many years of hard work.
This is a further example of the EIB’s growing commitment to assisting France’s local and regional authorities, making a direct impact in terms of growth and sustainable development in the regions and the improvement of people’s daily lives. In Brittany, the EIB has supported substantial investments such as the development of electricity storage systems at the Bolloré Group’s site in Ergué-Gabéric with a €130 million loan in 2011 and the construction of Brest’s tram system with a EUR 90 million loan.
Since January 2012, thanks to the leverage effect on its financial partners, the EIB’s support for France’s local and regional authorities has enabled €6 billion worth of investment. And following the European Council’s decision to increase the EIB’s capital by EUR 10 billion this commitment is set to grow.