Portugal presents a high-speed train project to link Lisbon to Porto in 1h15

The Portuguese government presented on Wednesday a high-speed train project that will connect Lisbon to Porto (north), the two main cities of the country, in one hour and fifteen minutes after 2030, against nearly 3 hours currently.

It is a “

” which will promote “

” and “

”, explained Prime Minister Antonio Costa during a press conference in Porto.

This railway line should also eventually make it possible to connect Porto and Vigo, in the northwest of Spain.

This link with Spain will be "

", said Antonio Costa.

A construction in three stages

The construction of this line will be done in three stages.

Work on the first phase between Porto and Soure, near Coimbra (center), should start as early as 2024, while the last section of around 40 kilometers north of Lisbon is planned after 2030. For the first construction phase, the The investment is " around

", including around "

", said Carlos Fernandes, member of the board of directors of Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP), public manager of rail and road networks.

"

", assured Antonio Costa, calling for a broad "

".

This line, which should accommodate some 16 million passengers in 2031 against six million currently, will also shorten the distances between the Portuguese capital and the main cities of the country such as Guarda (north) or Santarem (center), according to the project unveiled. Wednesday.

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Portugal is thus relaunching its high-speed train program after having been forced in the past to postpone several projects of this type, including the Lisbon-Madrid link initially scheduled for 2013, due to the economic and financial difficulties caused by the financial crisis of 2008.

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