The political discourse calls for an increasing investment in trains, but reality continues to contradict these words. The latest railway works calendar indicates new delays in investments classified as priorities for “Portugal in Europe”. In addition to the problems with the Ferrovia 2020 investment plan, there are delays in the projects to be completed under the National Investment Program 2030 (PNI2030), according to information released to operators by Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP).
The delays are happening across the country. It has been waiting for decades for an electric train that leaves from Cascais station and arrives at Oriente station, via Sete-Rios, Entrecampos and Roma-Areeiro. In PNI2030, the connection between the Cascais line and the Cintura line would be constructed in 2023 and 2027. Now it will be necessary to wait almost ten years: IP estimates that the work to bury the Alcântara-Terra station will take place between 2028 and 2028. 2031 .
To this end, the Cascalense line will have the same electrification system as the rest of the national rail network in the first half of 2025 (25,000 volts, instead of the current 1,500). However, the current migration will not take place until 2027, when CP will have 25 of the 34 new electric trainsets for this line. The first 25 units will be bi-voltage and won’t arrive until mid-year. By the end of 2026, IP has committed to ending three border crossings of this line.
IP aims to build the new line between Porto and Soure at high speed by the end of 2030, without giving dates for the route between Soure and Carregado, which should also be completed by the end of the decade. In principle, the public tender for the construction of the first 71 kilometers of the new line (Porto-Oiã sub-section) will be launched on January 15. Also by the end of 2030, the infrastructure manager plans to complete the new line between Braga and Valença, which will then continue to Vigo.
Early last year, the quadrupling of the Contumil-Ermesinde route is expected to be completed, opening up the Porto suburban area for 120 million euros.
In the Lisbon district, IP wants to quadruple the routes between Roma-Areeiro and Braço de Prata and Alverca-Castanheira do Ribatejo-Azambuja by 2030, with a delay of five years.
Not far from there, the Vendas Novas line will be modernized in early 2029. On the Alentejo line, the Poceirão-Bombel section will be doubled at the end of 2028. Further on, Beja will have to wait until the end of 2029 to be able to receive the first electric trains leaving Casa Branca, four years later than predicted by PNI2030.
Source: DN
