Portugal - General Information
Country Name
Portugal (Portugal)
National Railway System
National Railway Operator
Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses (CP) is responsible for the operation of most trains.
Infrastructure Authority
Railway infrastructure is owned and maintained by Rede Ferroviária Nacional (REFER)
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
- CP www.cp.pt/cp/displayPage.do?vgnextoid=a4f6f9e12a584010VgnVCM1000007b01a8c0RCRD, then choose from "Timetables in PDF Format".
- Fertagus www.fertagus.pt then select "Horários" > "Fertagus"
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
Printed Maps
- European Railway Atlas: Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece by M.G. Ball (1991) (ISBN 0-7110-2087-6)
- European Railway Atlas by M.G. Ball (2008 onwards)
- Quail Map Company's Portugal Railway Map (third edition) was published in 2010.
Web-based 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.
- Thorsten Büker's Iberia Map, with enlargements for Porto and Lisbon.
Ticketing
CP has introduced a national INTRA_RAIL pass for all travellers, in addition to the existing one for young people. See the CP website, select English (small flag), then Traveling in Portugal > Intra_Rail.
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, operating over its own infrastructure - 4.1km of ex CP Metre gauge line: Mirandela Piaget (close to CP station and adjacent to bus station) - Carvalhais. Their units also operate the 13 km Cachão – Mirandela section of the Linha do Tua, owned by REFER.
- 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 [http://www.cm-sintra.pt/Artigo.aspx?ID=3202 (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 (11 km). Operated by Sintra town council with scheduled services FSSuO, now all year round. Earlier 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
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
The Ramal de Cáceres (Torre das Vargens - Marvāo Beirã CP - Valencia do Alcántara RENFE - Cáceres) closed to all traffic on 15 August 2012. The Lusitania (Lisboa - Madrid sleeping car train) was rerouted via the Vilar Formoso CP - Fuentes de Oñoro RENFE border crossing. All through freight traffic was discontinued on 5 February 2012.
Torre das Vargens - Elvas - Badajoz RENFE and Beja - Funcheira closed to pasengers on 1 January 2012.
CP has published official closure notices from 1st January 2012 for:
- The Linha do Corgo (Regua - Vila Real) Replaced by buses since February 2009
- The Linha do Tâmega (Livracao - Amarante) Replaced by buses since February 2009
- Ramal da Figueira da Foz (Figueira da Foz - Pampilhosa. Reinstatement work had stopped on this line, whose service has been replaced by buses since 2009, although it is unclear if the work was ever started.)
Amieira to Caldas da Rainha and Aveiro to Espinho via Sernada do Vouga were expected to close at the end of January 2012 but were both appear in the 2012-2013 timetable.
Intercity trains on the Linha do Sul (Lisboa to Faro) ceased running via Setúbal or Alcácer do Sal from 11 December 2011 and regional trains between Setúbal and Tunes ceased on the same day. The old Linha do Sul main line through Alcácer do Sal therefore lost its service with everything running via the new cutoff.
Coimbra - Serpins (Ramal da Lousã) was closed and the track lifted, for conversion to metro operation (Metro Mondego). This project has now been abandoned; it will be re-opened as an Iberian gauge line although it is unclear whether this includes electrification.
Formal closure is still likely at some point in the future for the following line
- (Tua –) Cachão – Mirandela (Linha do Tua). Units of the Mirandela Metro still operate the 13 km Cachão - Mirandela section, although it is not certain how long this will last. Tua - Cachão is served by taxi and now lost forever owing to construction work on a new dam.
Services between Lisboa and Evora restarted on 25 July 2011 after upgrading and electrification.
Setil – Coruche. The ‘experimental’ passenger rail service was withdrawn from 1 October 2011 owing to lack of demand.
Ermesinde – Leça do Balio. The Leixões branch closed to passengers in 1987. Ermesinde (not Contumil) – Leça reopened in 2009 and the remainder to Leixões was to follow. However, poor passenger loadings and a much more direct service to the centre of Porto by Metro led to closure on 1 February 2011.
A cutoff bypassing 35 km of the Linha do Sul (Lisboa - Tunes) round Alcácer do Sal was opened in December 2010.
Considerable upgrading 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. However, in March 2012 the government confirmed its decision taken in June 2011 to suspend construction of the 167 km section from Poceirão to Caia (Spanish border) of the Lisboa - Madrid high speed line. The first phase - from Lisboa to Poceirao, including the new Tagus bridge - had already been cancelled.
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. A new 3 km line (variante Trofa ) bypassing the old Trofa station opened on 16 August 2010, whereupon the old line closed.
A new 9km freight line serving Aveiro docks opened in 2010.
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.
