Estádio do Mar is a light rail station on the

Porto Metro The Porto Metro () is a light rail network in Porto, Portugal and a key part of the city's public transport system. Having a semi-metro alignment, it runs underground in central Porto and above ground into the city's suburbs while using low-fl ...

system in the municipality of

Matosinhos Matosinhos () is a City#Portugal, city and a Concelho, municipality in the district of Porto District, Porto in Portugal. The municipality covers an area of approximately and had 172,557 inhabitants in 2021. It is bordered by the municipalities o ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. The station is on line A of the Metro, which provides a direct connection to the centre of the city of Porto. It takes its name from the nearby stadium and was opened in 2002.

History

In 1884, the contractors building the

breakwaters A breakwater is a permanent structure constructed at a coastal area to protect against tides, currents, waves, and storm surges. Breakwaters have been built since antiquity to protect anchorages, helping isolate vessels from marine hazards ...

at the

Port of Leixões A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manchest ...

, built a narrow gauge railway from the quarries at São Gens to the port area. After the completion of the port works in 1893, this line was adapted for the transport of passengers and goods, with connections to the existing Porto to Póvoa and Famalicão narrow gauge line, allowing direct services to be operated between and the port. This line became known as the Matosinhos branch. The old narrow gauge lines closed in 2001, as part of the preparations for the creation of the

, which elsewhere uses much of the track-bed of these lines. Only a short stretch of the Matosinhos branch was reused in this way, but this stretch does include Estádio do Mar station. To the east of the station, where the metro curves to the left, the old line continued straight on. To the west, the metro follows the old line as far as Pedro Hispano. The new station was on the first section of the Porto Metro to open and was inaugurated on 7 December 2002, with commercial services starting on 1 January 2003.

Services

Estádio do Mar is a through station on line A. The next station to the west is Pedro Hispano, with trains passing through an underpass under the A28 motorway between the two. To the east, the next station is

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

. The platforms are at street level, with two through tracks served by two side platforms accessible directly from the street. There are four or five trains per hour in each direction.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Estádio do Mar station Porto Metro stations Railway stations in Portugal opened in 2002