Portugal Sets Environmental Approval for First Section of High-Speed Train Line

August 21 Infraestruturas de Portugal and the Portuguese Environment Agency gave their approval for the 71 kilometers that will connect Porto and Aveiro, this being the first of four lots of the line that will structure the Atlantic Axis the next decade.

This new step forward is the first come “on paper” in the last three decades and occurs despite the enormous social response suffered by the expropriations that it will entail, since in the ten municipalities that it crosses, they will have to demolish about 100 homes. “Weighing the identified negative impacts, generally amenable to minimization, and the expected significant positive impacts, conditional favorable decision is issued”reads the 650-page document.

The DEstimated duration of the works is four years and will require an investment of 1,650 million euros until the parish of hello, located south of the “Portuguese Venice”. The new high-speed line will be built in electrified double track for a maximum speed of 300 kilometers per hour and it will be exclusively for passengers.

Although initially it will have Iberian gauge tracks (1668 mm) to guarantee its compatibility with the rest of the existing network, the sleepers will be multipurpose to facilitate migration to the international (1435 mm) that Europe demands and the new operators demand.

This infrastructure has had a high neighbor responsel –encouraged from misinformation– despite being developed in parallel to two of the highways that communicate the first two cities of the neighboring country: the A-1 (paid and saturated) and the A-29. At the same time, it will have four interconnections for dair service to Aveiro and the other lines conventional in São João de Loure, Canelas, Ovar y Loure.

That is why the AIA requests for final approval that “in the cases of the most disadvantaged households and vulnerable where the expropriation value of the resources is insufficient for the acquisition of functionally similar resources, compensation values ​​should be increased”.

This “Lot A” of the High Speed ​​line between Porto and Lisbon presented by Antonio Costa last autumn thus faces the tender phase for the construction and works projectwhich should be ready during the next year thanks to the Portuguese legislation and the reuse of the studies prepared up to 2011 by the public company RAVE.

In this way the works could start at the end of 2024 so that the first 71 kilometers be in service before the end of this decade and reduce direct train travel between both cities of the 169 minutes to 119.

This reduction will come from the hand of the “Lot B” that extends to the municipality of Soure, south of Coimbra. From it will depart “Lote C” that complete the bulk of the investment of 4,650 million euros to the parish of Carregado, north of Lisbon. In this case, the award of project and works It will be after next summer.

The will of the Portuguese government to “win” the High Speed ​​race with Spain contrasts with the delays that it is suffering in what will be its first line of this type. Despite being announced for the end of this 2023, the 90 kilometers between Évora and Elvas –suitable for freight and passenger traffic at 250 km/h– They will not have circulations until next year.

Advance of the Spanish side

For its part, the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda fsigned on June 13 the adjudication of the Informative Study of the South Railway Exit of Vigo is for 884,207.5 euros for the next 18 months.

In this period of timeo Prointec and Geoconsult must design the tunnel that will connect the Urzáiz station with the current conventional line in As Gándaras, choosing one of the two alternatives proposed in the month of March that draw two corridors of almost 15 kilometers and 700 million euros of investment.

This work is the cornerstone of the entire line as it coIndicates the start-up of workbetween Oporto and Valença do Minho. In addition, both governments must agree in the short term on the layout of the new vi6 km international pipeline in Tui.

These infrastructures are essential for Renfe –which is already working on its international expansion plan in the neighboring country– and the Spanish-Italian That -which has the support of the European Commission- launch direct high-speed services between A Coruña, Vigo and Lisbon.