High-speed rail in Portugal
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In February 2009, the government of Portugal announced plans to build a
high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...
line from
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
to
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
; this plan was cancelled in March 2012 amidst a bailout programme of financial assistance to the Portuguese Republic. The project was valued at €7.8 billion and the government had claimed it would create 100,000 jobs. The line would link to Spain's Southwest Corridor. In October 2020, the Portuguese government proposed a 75 minute rail link between the cities of
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
and
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
and a 55 minute rail link between
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
and
Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Penins ...
(
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
). These new links will connect with the current railway system in
Leiria Leiria (; cel-x-proto, ɸlāryo) is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat of its own distr ...
,
Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...
, Aveiro and
Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
(besides the already mentioned cities), diminishing travel times overall in the country.


Current operations

Since the late 1990s
Comboios de Portugal CP — Comboios de Portugal, EPE (''CP''; English: ''Trains of Portugal'') is a state-owned company which operates passenger trains in Portugal. Before June 2009, CP stood for Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses (English: ''Portuguese Railways'') ...
(CP) has run the
Alfa Pendular Alfa Pendular is the name of the flagship Pendolino high-speed tilting train of Portuguese state railway company CP. It connects the cities of Guimarães, Braga, Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra, Santarém, Lisbon, Albufeira and Faro, among others at spe ...
service, connecting Portugal's mainland from the north border to the
Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...
at a speed of up to (in specific sections), which reduced the travel time between
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
and
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
by approximately 30 minutes. The service is operated using 10 Italian-designed
Pendolino Pendolino (from Italian ''pendolo'' "pendulum", and ''-ino,'' a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the UK, the US, ...
tilting train A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train (or other vehicle) rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide abo ...
s. Based on the Italian
ETR 480 The ETR 480 is a tilting Electric Multiple Unit built by Fiat Ferroviaria (now Alstom Ferroviaria) since 1993, It is also known as Pendolino. It was developed from the first new-generation Pendolino, the ETR 460. The main difference between ETR ...
, trains were assembled in Portugal at the former
SOREFAME Sorefame (an abbreviation of ''Sociedades Reunidas de Fabricações Metálicas'') was a Portuguese manufacturer of railway rolling stock and industrial equipment, such as dam gates equipment. The company was established in 1943. In the 1990s the ...
/ Adtranz plant in
Amadora Amadora () is a municipality and urbanized city in the northwest of the Lisbon metropolitan area and 10 km from central Lisbon. The population in 2011 was 175,136, in an area of 23.78 km² (9.2 sq mi). It is the most densely populated mun ...
.
Fiat Ferroviaria Alstom Ferroviaria S.p.A., former Fiat Ferroviaria S.p.A., is the Italian division of Alstom. Fiat Ferroviaria S.p.A. was the rail division of automobile manufacturer Fiat. It was founded in 1880 as Società Nazionale Officine di Savigliano.
was the main contractor, with
Siemens AG Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
and ADtranz as
subcontractor A subcontractor is an individual or (in many cases) a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract. Put simply the role of a subcontractor is to execute the job they are hired by the contractor f ...
s. In addition to these high-speed trains, CP
InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...
" corail" coaches have been upgraded to running. These are hauled by
CP 5600 Class 5600 are a series of electric locomotives built by Siemens in association with Sorefame of Portugal for Comboios de Portugal, the state owned railway company of Portugal. Overview The 5600 locomotives predate the EuroSprinter family of mod ...
locomotives (identical to the Spanish RENFE Class 252). These "corail" coaches are based on French
SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...
Corail cars but their carbody is made out of stainless steel, manufactured at the
SOREFAME Sorefame (an abbreviation of ''Sociedades Reunidas de Fabricações Metálicas'') was a Portuguese manufacturer of railway rolling stock and industrial equipment, such as dam gates equipment. The company was established in 1943. In the 1990s the ...
plant.


Current infrastructure

The
Northern Line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...
was modernised to allow trains to run at 220 km/h between Lisbon- Alverca,
Vila Franca de Xira Vila Franca de Xira () is a city and municipality in the Lisbon District in Portugal. The population in 2021 was 137,659, in an area of 318.19 km2. Situated on both banks of the Tagus River, 32 km north-east of the Portuguese capital L ...
Santarém, Pombal
Alfarelos Alfarelos is a civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combine ...
and MealhadaEspinho, and to allow full use of the tilting to achieve speeds between 140–180 km/h in the remaining intermediate sections. Work is underway to continue to bring these intermediate stretches up to standards. The Southern Line was modernised to allow trains to run at 220 km/h between Lisbon-Pinhal Novo and
Grândola Grândola () is a town (''vila'') and municipality in Setúbal District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 14,826, in an area of 825.94 km2. Included in this municipality is Tróia (part of Carvalhal parish), a peninsula between the At ...
Funcheira; work is underway in a new variant between Pinhal Novo-Grandola to allow seamless 220 km/h running all the way from Lisboa to Funcheira (150 km). Alfa Pendular trains with their top speed of 220 km/h are in fact the only reason the top speed is 220 km/h. The tilting trains run in most slower sections at 20/40 km/h above conventional trains speeds. On high speed sections conventional trains run at 200 km/h and Tilting trains at their 220 km/h top speed. The true speed limit on these long sections is well above 220 km/h. In February 2011, trains began using the Alcácer Bypass, cutting 6.7 km of the Southern Line through means of a 29 km line that includes a bridge across the Sado River. Trains will be able to travel at 200 km along the section, or 220 km with tilting technology. The new bypass will cut 10m from the journey times of trains traveling south from Lisbon towards the Algarve. Trains run hourly between Lisbon and Porto, most being Alfa Pendular (3 stops at
Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...
, Aveiro and
Vila Nova de Gaia Vila Nova de Gaia (; cel-x-proto, Cale), or simply Gaia, is a city and a municipality in Porto District in Norte Region, Portugal. It is located south of the city of Porto on the other side of the Douro River. The city proper had a population of ...
); other Alfa Pendular and some InterCity (which loco hauled 200 km/h trains with 5/14 cars) call at 6 to 9 intermediate stops. Additionally some Alfa Pendular and Intercity trains run north to
Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and a ...
and
Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
and others go down the south line to service Faro, which is served by two Porto - Lisboa - Faro Alfa Pendulars and three Lisbon - Faro InterCity (limited to 160 km/h due to the refurbished
Sorefame Sorefame (an abbreviation of ''Sociedades Reunidas de Fabricações Metálicas'') was a Portuguese manufacturer of railway rolling stock and industrial equipment, such as dam gates equipment. The company was established in 1943. In the 1990s the ...
coaches used on the route).


Previous plans for high-speed rail

In 2005 the Portuguese government had approved the construction of three high-speed lines: * from the capital Lisbon to Porto (300 km/h new HSL expected to be finished in 2015). The two biggest cities of Portugal would be at a distance of a 1h15 train trip. * from (350 km/h mixed traffic HSL expected to be complete by 2013) bringing the countries' capital cities within three hours of each other (less than 2h45 expected). * from Porto to Vigo (250 km/h mixed traffic new line between Braga and the border) which would connect both extremes (Porto and Vigo) in less than 45 minutes, would link to . On December 12, 2009, the Portuguese Ministry of Public Work, Transport and Communications announced the ELOS consortium was awarded a 40-year contract to build, finance and maintain the first 165 km section of the high speed line from Poceirão to the Spanish border, Caia. The route's length is 165 km. The PPP contract was formally signed on 8 May 2010 and included construction of a broad-gauge freight track between Evora and Caia. Completion was expected by the end of 2013. However, with the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
, and the resulting
European sovereign-debt crisis The European debt crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis or the European sovereign debt crisis, is a multi-year debt crisis that took place in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until the mid to late 2010s. Several eurozone memb ...
, major public works projects in Portugal were frozen to reduce the amount of public debt. In this context the later elected (2011)
Portuguese government , border = Central , image = , caption = , date = , state = Portuguese Republic , address = Official Residence of the Prime MinisterEstrela, Lisbon , appointed = President o ...
withdrew the high-speed railway plans in favour of a plan to develop
standard-gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
freight routes to the rest of Europe. After a high profile court battle with the ELOS consortium the high speed rail project was terminated by the Portuguese government.


Lines planned


Lisbon–Porto

In October 2022 the Portuguese government announced that construction on a new high speed line from Lisbon to Porto would start in 2024. The new line will be built to double track and
Iberian gauge Iberian gauge ( es, ancho ibérico, trocha ibérica, pt, bitola ibérica) is a track gauge of , most extensively used by the railways of Spain and Portugal. This is the second-widest gauge in regular use anywhere in the world. The Indian gauge, , ...
. It would allow speeds of up to 300 km/h. This would reduce the current travel time between Lisbon and Porto from the current 2 hours and 49 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes. The cost of the project is expected to be € 4.9 billion by 2030, of which € 1 billion is contributed by the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. The line will be constructed in three phases. The first phase between Porto and Soure is to be completed by 2028 and will reduce travel time by 50 minutes. The second phase between Soure and
Carregado Carregado () is a former civil parish, located in the municipality of Alenquer, in western Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Carregado e Cadafais. It has a population of 9,066 inhabitants and a total area of 15.52 km² ...
is to be completed by 2030, further reducing travel time by 40 minutes. The last phase between Carregado and Lisbon will be completed at a later date after 2030 and bring a smaller travel time reduction of 4 minutes. The capacity of the Lisbon Oriente and Porto Campanhã stations will be increased for this line. Trains on the line will also serve upgraded intermediate stations in
Leiria Leiria (; cel-x-proto, ɸlāryo) is a city and municipality in the Central Region of Portugal. It is the 2nd largest city in that same region, with a municipality population of 128,640 (as of 2021) in an area of . It is the seat of its own distr ...
,
Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...
and Aveiro, as well as a new station in
Vila Nova de Gaia Vila Nova de Gaia (; cel-x-proto, Cale), or simply Gaia, is a city and a municipality in Porto District in Norte Region, Portugal. It is located south of the city of Porto on the other side of the Douro River. The city proper had a population of ...
.


Porto–Vigo

There are plans to extend the Lisbon–Porto high-speed rail line to
Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Penins ...
in Spain, where it will connect with the Spanish
AVE ''Alta Velocidad Española'' (''AVE'') is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . As of December 2021, the Spanish high-speed rail network, on part of which the AVE s ...
high speed rail network. There is no target date at this time, however.


Lisbon–Madrid

The Madrid–Extremadura high-speed rail line in Spain will eventually be extended to Lisbon, but there is no target date yet.


See also

*
Comboios de Portugal CP — Comboios de Portugal, EPE (''CP''; English: ''Trains of Portugal'') is a state-owned company which operates passenger trains in Portugal. Before June 2009, CP stood for Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses (English: ''Portuguese Railways'') ...
: The state passenger rail service in Portugal


References


External links


Alfa Pendular
at CP (Train Operator Company) official page
REFER (Rail Infrastructure company)

RAVE - Rede de Alta Velocidade (High Speed Infr. Company, now a part of REFER)
{{High-speed rail, state=collapsed Rail transport in Portugal