High-speed line route ‘reserved’ for at least two years

The route of the future high-speed rail line between Porto and Sure, part of the Lisbon-Porto line, will be “reserved” by Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) for two years, with another as an option, according to a resolution published on Tuesday.

“The duration of the preventive measures is two years from the date of their entry into force, with the possibility of extension for another year if necessary,” can be read in the resolution of the Council of Ministers, published on Tuesday in the Diário da República (DR). .

We are talking about the approval by the government at the Council of Ministers on December 7 in Porto of “preventive measures” so that urban planning operations are not carried out on the high-speed line section without the prior opinion of the authorities. IP.

In a resolution published in the DR on Tuesday, the government stipulates that operations such as subdivision, urbanization, construction, expansion, alteration or reconstruction, land reconstruction, demolition or felling of trees are subject to prior compulsory approval by the IP.

In exceptional cases, he adds, indigenous peoples can also veto projects before government regulations come into force, “when they seriously and irreversibly damage the implementation of the high-speed rail project between Porto Campanhão/Aveiro (Oian) and Aveiro (Oia)/ Sure.”

On December 7, Undersecretary of State for Infrastructure Frederico Francisco called the high-speed project “the most important public investment of the first half of the 21st century in Portugal.”

The fact that city operations on the high-speed section are not carried out without prior approval from the IP will ensure that they do not become “more complex and costly” to carry out, a government official said.

Asked how these measures could ensure that the next government moves forward with implementing the project as defined, Frederico Francisco responded that this option “preserves the greatest number of degrees of freedom for the future government.”

“Now I believe that all the conditions have been created for it to move forward. We have advanced in this process more than ever. There is a consensus on the need for a new Porto-Lisbon line,” he emphasized. He added that tenders for the first stage of work can be announced as early as 2024; there are “conditions for compliance with the announced schedule and commissioning of the first stage at the end of 2028.”

The Secretary of State, however, said that in his opinion the decision of the next government would not be “very different from that which has already been taken and which enjoys great agreement in the country.”

Frederico Francisco told reporters that thanks to these measures and the definition of the route, the high-speed project is becoming “much more mature”, making Portugal’s application to the CEF – Connecting Europe Facility, managed annually by the European Commission, a success.

The Lisbon-Porto high-speed road project, with an estimated cost of around 4.5 billion euros, provides connections between the two cities in one hour and 15 minutes, with possible stops in Leiria, Coimbra, Aveiro and Gaia.

At the same time, depending on coordination with Spain, the Porto Vigo connection is also being developed, with a new connection to Francisco Sa Carneiro Airport and the Braga-Valence section (Viana do Castelo area) by 2030.