The Marseille Tramway Extension project (ETNS1) is financed by the European Union under the Public Sector Loan Facility, with a grant of €15 million and a loan of €100 million by the European Investment Bank (EIB). The total budget of the project amounts to €320 million.

The ETNS1 project is part of a broader investment programme launched by Métropole d’Aix-Marseille-Provence in 2021 in the transport sector. It specifically aims to:  

• Extend the North-South tramway line of Marseille by 6.2 km;
• Construct storage, maintenance site and technical buildings for rolling stock;
• Carry out landscape works around the infrastructure and the new tramway stations.

The ETNS1 project will improve the performance and quality of the tram network in Marseille, strengthen the quality and diversity of the public transport services in the area, offering an alternative to private cars, encouraging soft mobility and behavioural changes for the local and regional citizens towards a more sustainable urban mobility.

The project is expected to bring benefits in terms of time savings for passengers, reduced road congestion, reduced CO2 emissions, and improved accessibility in the city and to create around 75 jobs.

About PSLF

The Public Sector Loan Facility (PSLF) is the third pillar of the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM) – a key tool of the European Green Deal Investment Plan to make sure that no one and no region is left behind in the transition to a climate-neutral economy. 

The PSLF combines loans from the European Investment Bank (up to around €6-8 billion) with grants from the European Commission (up to €1.3 billion). The combined support is designed to mobilise additional investments for public sector entities in the regions most affected by the climate and energy transition (like Bouches du Rhône) as identified in the Territorial Just Transition Plans, to meet their development needs in the transition towards a climate-neutral economy. These plans are drawn up by each EU Member State and outline the challenges to be addressed in each just transition region, together with the development needs and targets to be reached by 2030. 

The blending of the European Investment Bank loan and the Commission grant will facilitate the financing of projects that do not generate sufficient streams of revenues to cover their investment costs. The PSLF implementation is managed by CINEA.

About CINEA

The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), is an Executive Agency established by the European Commission to implement parts of EU funding programmes for transport, energy, climate action, environment and maritime fisheries and aquaculture. CINEA aims is to support its beneficiaries, establish strong partnerships, deliver high-quality programme and project management, foster effective knowledge sharing and create synergies between programmes - to support a sustainable, connected, and decarbonised Europe.

About the EIB

The European Investment Bank (EIB), whose shareholders are the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU), is the EU’s long-term financing institution. The EIB provides loans to the public and private sectors to support high-quality investments contributing to the achievement of the EU headline targets. In 2023, France was the first beneficiary of EIB financing in the energy and green transition, with an overall investment of €6.9 billion in renewable energy, clean mobility and energy efficiency. As a partner of local and regional authorities, the EIB spent €2.3 billion in funding last year on public rail and urban transport and soft mobility, its first investment sector in France last year.