The signed loan is the first part of a wider €1bn loan commitment approved by the EIB board of directors in favor of PKP Intercity. This commitment represents the single largest EIB loan ever approved for the rail sector in Poland.
The fleet renewal project consists of the acquisition of 108 electric locomotives, 300 passenger coaches and 38 push-pull rakes of coaches, as well as the modernization of 14 electric multiple units and 288 passenger coaches owned by PKP Intercity.
It is estimated that more than 30% of PKP Intercity’s fleet in operation by 2028 will have been acquired or modernized with the financing under this project. The planned investments will benefit a significant number of passengers — the number of additional passengers is likely to exceed 25 million in 2028.
The fleet will primarily serve long-distance domestic journeys under a public service contract, and to a large extent also journeys on the trans-European transport network (TEN-T).
EIB vice-president Teresa Czerwińska, said “Sustainable transport is part of the solution to the climate crisis; trains are an important asset for achieving a more climate-friendly way of life without giving up on comfort. Better trains improve mobility and comfort, create connections and at the same time help to green our economies by diverting traffic from roads to rail.”
President of the management board of PKP Intercity, Marek Chraniuk added, “As the most environmentally friendly means of public transport, rail aspires to be the public transport mode of choice for the largest possible proportion of the population. To implement the European Green Deal and encourage millions more passengers to switch to train travel, PKP Intercity announced earlier this year that it would continue its largest ever capital expenditure program with a budget of PLN 19bn (€4.1bn) earmarked for state-of-the-art rolling stock by 2030. We are therefore very pleased to have signed an agreement with the EIB to finance our massive rolling stock investments, which will ensure comfortable and safe travel conditions. We are modernizing our fleet with the needs and preferences of different groups of travelers in mind. We aim to make our services accessible to absolutely all passengers.”