Portugal - General Information
Country Name
Portugal (Portugal)
National Railway System
Railway infrastructure is owned and maintained by Rede Ferroviária Nacional (REFER), while Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses (CP) is responsible for the operation of most trains. Both are state-owned.
Official Website
Language
Portuguese.
Currency
Euro.
UIC code
numeric 94; alpha P.
Timetable
Journey Planner
www.cp.pt/cp/displayPage.do?vgnextoid=a4f6f9e12a584010VgnVCM1000007b01a8c0RCRD, then use the "Timetable Search" function.
Downloadable Timetable
www.cp.pt/cp/displayPage.do?vgnextoid=a4f6f9e12a584010VgnVCM1000007b01a8c0RCRD, then choose from "Timetables in PDF Format".
Printed Timetable
None issued. Leaflets are available for Alfa Pendular / Intercidades (InterCity) and for suburban services around Lisboa and Porto. Fertagus issue their own timetable booklet. No printed material appears to be available for Regional services, only timetable board display posters; travellers by such services would be well advised to make their own print outs of the relevant web pages (which are the display posters).
Engineering Information
www.cp.pt/cp/displayPage.do?vgnextoid=6377f9e12a584010VgnVCM1000007b01a8c0RCRD
Maps
A simplistic CP plan (click English flag, then select "Travelling in Portugal") is available. More detailed maps are at REFER's site and in their Network Statement, page 50 onwards. Quail Map Company's Portugal Railway Map (second edition) is still available but there have been many network changes since it was published in 2001.
Gauge
1668mm, with four separate systems of metre gauge (Aveiro/Espinho – Sernada do Vouga; Livração – Amarante; Régua – Vila Real; Tua – Mirandela)
Electrification
25 kV 50 Hz, except for the former Estoril Railway from Lisboa Cais do Sodré to Cascais which is 1500V dc
Rule of the road
Left
Private Railways
- Sociedade Metropolitano Ligeiro de Mirandela: Mirandela Metro [4.1km section of ex CP Metre gauge line]: Mirandela Piaget (close to CP station and adjacent to bus station) - Carvalhais. Single journey time 9 minutes. [operating its own infrastructure]
- Travessia do Tejo, Transportes SA: Fertagus: (Lisboa) Roma-Areeiro - Campolide - (over Ponte 25 de Abril) - Pragal - Pinhal Novo - Setúbal. Operates daily. [operating on REFER infrastructure]
Tourist Lines
- Sintra-Atlântico Tramway [ > Turismo > Eléctrico de Sintra] (Metre gauge): Runs from Sintra (terminus in front of Vila Alda, close to the Museu de Arte Moderna in the Estefânea district - 8 mins walk from CP station) to Praia das Maçãs (ca. 12 km); operated seasonally by Sintra town council with scheduled services FSSuO June - September. Plans to extend back to Sintra CP station seem to have evaporated.
- Transpraia: (600mm gauge): Costa de Caparica - Fonte da Telha (7km); operates daily, June to September.
- Barril railway: (600mm gauge): Pedras d'el Rei - Praia do Barril (beach) (1km); operates frequently, during summer.
Metros
Lisboa; Porto; Sul do Tejo. Metro Mondego is under construction, incorporating CP's now-closed Ramal da Lousã (Serpins branch), to serve the communities of Coimbra, Lousã and Miranda do Corvo.
Trams
Lisboa (five routes); Porto (three routes); Sintra (see Tourist Lines, above). The Lisboa system contains the steepest adhesion worked tram tracks in the world, a gradient of 15% on route 28 on the west side of the city.
The Light Rail Transit Association's publication, The Tramways of Portugal can still be recommended (despite being somewhat dated, its fourth edition having been published in 1995).
Recent and Future Changes
Considerable up-grading work (in many cases with electrification) has been undertaken on main lines in recent years - including a new route to the Algarve via the Ponte de 25 Abril bridge (opened 1999) over the Tagus in Lisboa. As well as converting former-CP metre gauge lines in Porto to be part of a standard (1435mm) gauge Metro system or to broad gauge (Guimarães branch), broad gauge lines radiating from that city have been electrified for various distances. The daily cross border service from Abrantes to Badajoz [RENFE] - withdrawn in 2004 - was restored at the end of 2009. It has been announced that the railway from Pocinho to Barca de Alva on the Douro Valley line will reopen - possibly in 2010. Two of the remaining sections of metre gauge line in the Douro valley (to Amarante and to Vila Real) closed in February 2009 for relaying, and should reopen later in 2010. The Tua - Brunheda section of the metre gauge line to Mirandela is currently (February 2010) closed and subject to threat of being lost forever in conjunction with a proposed barrage scheme; whether the currently isolated Brunheda - Mirandela section will then survive is moot. The lower section of the Linha da Beira Alta, between Pampilhosa and Figueira da Foz, is closed - ostensibly for temporarily, for relaying (although work has apparently not started). A new 9km freight line, to serve Aveiro docks, is complete but (at February 2010) awaits formalities to enable it to open for traffic. Elsewhere, away from the main lines and suburban areas, local services are struggling to survive - and many branches have already been closed to freight as well as passenger. The Ramal da Lousã (Coimbra - Serpins branch) has closed for conversion to metro operation (see "Metros" above).
The Leixões branch (near Porto) - closed to passengers since 1987 - is being reopened for passengers: the section between Ermesinde (not Contumil) and Leça do Balio reopened in 2009 and the remainder to Leixões is to follow on an unspecified date.
Special Notes
Cascais (Estoril Railway) is now almost certainly the westernmost railhead in Europe (Valencia Harbour in Ireland held that honour until closure in 1960).
Timetable direction contains a trap for the unwary: circulaçoes ascendentes (which one might translate as "up trains") are travelling away from the major terminal (and thus the opposite of British practice); such trains carry odd numbers (equivalent of French impair).
Ramal = branch line; conc. (concordancia) = chord or connection; ap. (apeadeiro) = halt; bif. (bifurcação) = junction.
