Rail transport

Rail is one of the most sustainable and safe forms of passenger and freight transport. However, only 7% of passengers and 17% of goods in the European Union travel by rail.

The European Union’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy aims to double rail freight and to triple high-speed rail activity by 2050. But the sector is facing tremendous investment challenges. Those challenges have been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic with rail operators facing tens of billions of euros in revenue shortfalls.

As the EU Bank, the European Investment Bank (EIB) supports the shift to rail through financing and advisory support, to help cut greenhouse gas emissions and pollution and to prepare EU transport for the future.

EIB support for the rail sector

The EU Year of Rail

2021 is the European Year of Rail, an initiative led by the European Commission that highlight the benefits of rail as a sustainable, smart and safe means of transport.

Check the EU Year of Rail website for more information on the initiative and key events!

The rail projects we finance range from the construction and modernisation of tracks and stations to electrification, as well as acquisition and modernisation of passenger and freight rolling stock, maintenance depots and rail terminals that combine rail with other modes of transport. In the last 10 years, the EIB has supported the rail sector with more than €39 billion of investments, helping to construct or upgrade almost 2 000 kilometres of tracks and 304 stations while enabling the purchase and rehabilitation of over 1 100 units of rolling stock.

Find out more about key benefits of EIB lending.

Financing for EIB rail projects

While the lending from own resources remains the majority of EIB loans, some operations benefit from EU guarantees and grants, which allow EIB to support projects with higher risk profiles.

The EIB also advises and provides technical expertise to help private and public project promoters finance and realise new rail projects.

Apart from developing rail transport infrastructure and an interconnected European rail network, the EIB also helps to accelerate innovation in the rail sector. Backed by guarantees from the European Commission, we can support cutting-edge, innovative rail projects that drive the development of a strong and competitive rail transport industry.

EIB Green Rail Investment Platform

The Green Rail Investment Platform supports rail investments to help the sector recover from the impact of the pandemic and its aftermath. It also aims at financing of investments due to addressing decarbonisation challenges by expanding electrification and introducing new technologies.

EIB Green Rail Investment Platform brochure

EIB rail projects in focus

We supported the purchase of 60 new passenger battery-electric trains in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most densely populated and core industrial region, to replace existing diesel traction rolling stock. The new trains will use an electric drivetrain, powered by an alternative power source (fuel cell or battery electric). The project will help develop the market for the deployment of alternative fuel and associated infrastructure in the rail sector.

We supported a mobile network in GSM-R technology and an optical fibre transmission network to cover most of the Polish railway infrastructure (approximately 13 800 km). The network will provide voice and data services to enable the operation and transmit signalling information (ERTMS) for trains in Poland.

JASPERS, one of our key advisory services, is supporting the city of Cluj-Napoca, the second-largest city in Romania, to prepare and deploy an S-Bahn-type metropolitan train service – a pilot concept for mobility in Romania. Integration is key. To be truly successful, the entire metropolitan mobility superstructure should function as one integrated system. JASPERS is supporting the city in ensuring optimal integration between various sustainable mobility subsystems, and using this project to solve an existing mobility problem and to shape the future sustainable development of the city and the region.

We financed the upgrade of the existing Napoli-Bari railway line to the higher technical standards, including increasing maximum speed to 200 km/h and doubling the existing single track sections. The project connects the biggest city in southern Italy, Napoli, with another major city, Bari, crossing two southern Italian regions (Campania and Puglia). The project expects to bring down travel times for passengers and to contribute to a significant transport shift from road to rail, helping to cut carbon emissions.

As the lead international financial institution under the Western Balkans Investment Framework as well as under JASPERS advisory assignments, we support the preparation phase of modernisation of several sections of the extended core Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) in Serbia, such as on the Croatian-Serbian border, as well as for Belgrade and Nis, on the Serbian/North Macedonian border. The objective of these projects is to bring the rail infrastructure up to TEN-T and interoperability requirements. The technical assistance includes preparing a feasibility study, environmental and social impact assessment, preliminary design and tender documents, in accordance with the high standards necessary for this key infrastructure.

In the spotlight

Contact us

Do you need finance or technical assistance for your project?

We offer a wide range of financial products, as well as technical assistance through the European Investment Advisory Hub and the European PPP Expertise Centre (EPEC)

Do you have a question?

For enquiries regarding the financing facilities, activity, organisation and objectives of the EIB, contact the Information Desk
Contact us
Tel. +352 4379-22000
Frequently asked questions

Are you a journalist?

Contact our Press office
Tel. +352 4379-21000
press@eib.org
www.eib.org/press