The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) has financed the purchase of three new trains.

The bank has issued two loans, one of €18mn and one of €10mn, both of which will be used to import trains from Germany, to be used on local rail networks.

The first loan has been issued to AB Transitio and is guaranteed by the Västerbotten county council, in northern Sweden. The borrower will use the finance to purchase two Alstom-manufactured Coradia trains, with a total capacity of 400 seats.

The trains will service the line between Umeå and Örnsköldsvik, the region’s most heavily populated cities.

AB Transitio is the borrower on the second loan too, which is guaranteed by the Värmland county council in the west of Sweden. The loan will help fund the import of a Bombardier-constructed Regina train with a capacity of 170 seats.

Tore Emanuelsson, senior manager, origination at the NIB, tells GTR that both loans have 15-year tenors.

He says that while the pricing is undisclosed, the company managed to borrow at favourable rates, given the high credit quality of the county councils, issuing the guarantees.

Emanuelsson says that the Swedish government has a stated aim of increasing the number of passengers on railways for both environmental reasons and to increase efficiency of travel. For this reason, it’s expected that NIB will be involved in plenty more rail transactions in the coming years.