SPAIN: On November 20, the European Investment Bank announced that it will provide a loan of €1·7bn to support construction of the final 93 km segment in the high speed line between Madrid and the French border at Irún/Hendaye.
Confirmation of the first tranche of this loan, worth €325m, was expected in late November. It is estimated that once the whole line is complete, up to 5·45 million passengers per annum will use this high speed artery, which will also form part of the pan-European TEN-T network, and the Atlantic Corridor.
Construction of the first section of the alignment through the Pancorbo gorge, southwest of Miranda de Ebro, is to start in the coming months.
At the northern end, the line will meet the ‘Basque Y’ network of high speed and mixed-gauge lines now under construction to serve the region around Bilbao and San Sebastián, as well as eventually providing a 1 435 mm gauge corridor from Madrid to France.
