Linha do Douro is a railway in northern

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. For much of its route the line runs close to the

Douro River The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...

, offering very scenic views of the river and valley. Trains on the line are operated by

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).

Construction

Route

From west to east, the line runs from the junction at Ermesinde to

Pocinho Pocinho is a village in northern Portugal, located in the Vila Nova de Foz Côa Municipality. The Pocinho Dam and the River Douro are nearby. Pocinho railway station is the eastern terminus of the Douro railway line; the community developed w ...

. The line formerly continued east for a further 28 kilometres to the Spanish border. Until 1984, the track connected to a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

line, thus allowing through trains to/from

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

. Passenger trains normally run from São Bento station in

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 ...

to Pocinho, with some not running as far as the eastern terminus. The line is built to the

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, , ...

of . The line is single track, apart from a double track section between Ermesinde and Valongo (the authorisation for the dualling work was given by CP in 1993). In 1984, the Spanish rail operator RENFE announced the closure of its connecting line from

La Fuente de San Esteban La Fuente de San Esteban is a village and large municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon. It is located from the provincial capital city of Salamanca and has a population of 1,35 ...

to the Portuguese border. With the loss of international traffic, CP had to close its line east of Barca d'Alva to Spain. The service was cut back to Pocinho in 1988, which has since remained the eastern terminus of the Douro line.

Branch lines

There were formerly five

metre gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...

branch lines connecting with the Douro line, but the last of these closed in 2009. Geographically, from west to east they were: *The Penafiel to Lixa and Entre-os-Rios Railway, which closed in the 1920s after less than 20 years of service *The

Tâmega line The Tâmega line ''(Linha do Tâmega)'' was a railway line in northern Portugal. It closely followed the course of the Tâmega River. It closed in 2009. History The southern part of the line opened in 1909; it ran between Livração (the junct ...

, which closed in 2009 and ran north from a junction with Douro line at Livração *The

Corgo line The Corgo line ''(Linha do Corgo)'' was a railway line in northern Portugal. It closed in 2009. It ran north from Régua (a junction station on the main Douro railway line running along the Douro Valley) to Vila Real and Chaves. The lin ...

, which closed in 2009 and ran north from a junction with Douro line at Regua *The

Tua line The Tua line was a metre gauge railway line in northern Portugal, which connected Tua to Bragança. The line was opened in 1887 and closed in 2018. The section from Mirandela to Brunheda is planned to be reopened in 2019. History This hig ...

, which closed in 2008 and ran north from a junction with Douro line at Tua *The

Sabor line The Sabor line ''(Linha do Sabor)'' was a railway in north-east Portugal. It ran for nearly 106 km between Pocinho and Duas Igrejas, near Miranda do Douro. It closed in 1988. History The Sabor line served a very rural part of the country, follow ...

, which closed in 1988 and ran north-east from a junction with Douro line at

References

Sources

* {{Railway lines in Portugal D Railway lines opened in 1875 Iberian gauge railways

Construction

Route

Branch lines

See also

References

Sources