TGV line tender between Lisbon and Porto advances in 2023. First sections completed in 2028 – Observer
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The Government hopes to launch the tender for the construction of the first sections of the Lisbon/Porto high-speed line in 2023. Santos recognizes that it is risky to give deadlines, “but with deadlines”.
During the discussion of the proposed State Budget for 2022, the minister indicated the timetable for this structuring project for the country, which, he says, will radically change the way in which the two metropolitan areas relate to each other. It will be transformative for Leiria, Coimbra and Aveiro and Braga, but also for the countryside.
We have a wrong idea that the new line will only benefit the coast. The journey from Guarda to Lisbon will take 47 minutes less and to Porto less 1h19 minutes. This line has an impact in the interior of Portugal”.
In the phase of answering more than two hours of questions asked by the deputies, Pedro Nuno Santos indicated that the account will soon present the financing model for the new line, whose total investment is estimated at 4,500 million euros. The studies are being updated and the environmental assessment starts in the second semester to finish the assessment in 2023.
The project will start in Porto with the construction of the section to Soure, which will be divided into two sections — Porto/Aveiro and Aveiro/Soure with a connection to the Northern line. Only then will it be ready to start with the section between Soure starting (Coimbra) and the Carregadas works will start in 2026 to end in 2030. This part is “a more complicated story”, which will start even without this new line — which will even without this line will take a few more minutes to travel — it will be possible to make the connection between Lisbon and Porto in 1h15 minutes, he said.
How the TGV Lisbon/Porto promises to speed up travel between cities and the journeys it took to get here
The second phase will be the connection between Porto and Vigo, in which Pedro Nuno Santos said, Portugal is even more advanced than Spain. “This is a very important corridor, we are working with the municipalities to ensure that when we reach 2030 another minister will not come and say that it is years from now”.
The southern corridor is being built with the connection between Lisbon and Madrid designed mainly for goods, but also for passenger traffic. And in this project, underlined, “it would be very helpful to have the TTT (third crossing of the Tagus) in the connection to Spain for passengers, but also to the South. But I can’t feel with her. It is a debate that we will continue to have”. This bridge that was planned for Chelas/Barreiro during the time of José Sócrates within the framework of the TGV project was suspended more than ten years ago because of the state’s financial crisis.
The minister recognizes that the connection to Madrid would have made sense to go through Aveiro/Salamanca, going up in the territory still within Portugal that would also guarantee access from Porto to the Spanish capital. This option was not the option found that became known by the T as it was refused by Spain and the connection being made between two capitals has the main objective of transporting goods.
Pedro Nuno the balance of the execution of the several railways, capacity but that does not exist at this moment of reinforcement of the offer in more Santos lines made projects like Sintra and Cascais. In the first one, it is necessary to wait for the quadrupling of the line to Braço de Prata and Cascais, awaiting the purchase of new rolling stock whose tender has already been launched.
Faced with the huge flow of questions about variants, junctions to motorways and other roadways between ICs and national roads, the minister of infrastructure pointed out that while there are community funds on the railroad, the situation is different in the road plan and its execution depends on the national funding that is not enough for everything.