June 3 - The president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Werner Hoyer, has signed a EUR50 million (USD65.2 million) loan agreement with Lithuanian Railways for the acquisition of new rolling stock.
This is the third EIB operation aimed at modernising Lithuanian Railways - the first was for the upgrading of railway infrastructure, with the second loan supplied for the purchase of new locomotives.
The third loan will be used to purchase 590 new wagons (150 tanks, 140 open-top, 100 covered, 200 platform wagons). The freight wagons will be used predominantly for cross-border railway traffic between Lithuania and CIS countries.
The EIB is the long-term lending arm of the European Union and is owned by the EU member states. It makes finance available to projects that contribute towards EU policy goals. In this case, the new rolling stock will contribute toward the EU and Lithuania's environmental targets. The new wagons will reduce noise pollution by approximately 50 percent, decrease maintenance costs, improve net weight ratios and boost efficiency.
www.eib.org
www.litrail.lt
