The EIB will finance the first high speed contract called to tender by Adif within a PPP scheme for the signalling and installations of the stretch Albacete-Alicante

The loan was signed by the financial institution and Albali Señalización, the Special Purpose Company responsible for the execution of works and maintenance

• The loan, totalling up to 77.6 million euros and with a payback period of 15 years, will enable financing part of the investment required for this Public-Private Partnership contract.
• Provisions will be made during the projects implementation phase, entailing, amongst other actions, the installation and maintenance of the signalling system - including the implementation of ERTMS level 2 and fixed and mobile telecommunications and traffic control and civil protection.
• Albali Señalización is a company owned by Adif and led by Alstom, the company responsible for project coordination, and additionally made up of Isolux Corsán, Comsa-Emte and Caf.
• Funds from CDC Infrastructure and Fond-ICOinfraestructuras (ICO group) will form part of the equity of this project.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has extended a loan to Albali Señalización, for an amount totalling up to 77,600,000 euros, for the partial financing of the design phase, execution of works and maintenance of signalling installations (including the implementation of level 2 ERTMS), fixed-line telecommunications, central traffic control, civil protection and safety, train protection systems, mobile GSM-R technology and infrastructure for public mobile networks for the Albacete-Alicante High Speed Line (HSL).

Apart from enabling the completion of the work prior to commissioning the Albacete-Alicante High Speed Line, this loan, whose provisions will be made during the implementation phase and whose payback periods will be 15 years, will cover a part of the needed investment for the first high speed contract called to tender by Adif within a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.

In this regard, the European Commission has pointed out that a PPP scheme is the ideal formula for improving the execution of strategic projects, obtaining better economic and social results from infrastructures, improving the distribution of profits and distributing the burden of financing the infrastructure throughout its life in service.
 
Since the beginning, the European Investment Bank has shown interest in participating in the financing of this project, part of a corridor which the EU considers a priority. Thus, the loan was envisaged among the planned actions included in the third protocol signed by Adif, the EIB and the Ministry of Public Works of Spain for the financing of the construction of various high speed infrastructure projects to be carried out in Spain.
 
In turn, Albali Señalización is a Special Purpose Company (SPC) made up of Adif and the group of companies to which this contract, for signalling and telecommunications, was awarded. Albali is led by Alstom, the company in charge of the projects coordination, and additionally made up of Isolux Corsán, Comsa-Emte y Caf.

It is worth noting that Adifs experience in the construction and management of high speed lines has made it a world leader in the sector. In conjunction with this, the strength and consistency of its solutions as well as the fame and international prestige in various areas and specialties of the components of the group have been some of the factors which have made the project attractive. These factors have helped to capture national and international investment funds such as  the FondICOinfraestructuras (managed by AXIS, a capital risk company from the ICO group) and the French CDC Infrastructure fund.

Project Description

The contract for the installation and maintenance of the high speed railway installations between Albacete and Alicante consists of the execution of the necessary projects up through conservation and 20-year maintenance for a series of installations. These include the signalling, fixed-line telecommunications, central traffic control, civil protection and safety, train protection systems, mobile GSM-R technology and infrastructure for public mobile networks serving the High Speed Line. This will include the implementation of level 2 ERTMS technology and the execution of works on the same as well as its partial financing.
 
The most notable aspects of the aforementioned contract for the Albacete-La Encina-Alicante stretch (approximately 165 km), include the following:

• Project drafting and the execution of the works which correspond to the systems of traffic control, fixed-line and mobile telecommunications, elements of civil protection and safety on this stretch of high speed line.
• Project drafting and the execution of works for the substitution of signalling and communications on the stretch of the conventional line prone to electromagnetic disturbances in the 25kV electrical line.
• The partial financing of these actions.
• Conservation, repositioning, and maintenance operations on the aforementioned installations along the high speed line after commencing operation.

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