The airport is one of the factors defining the last leg of the high-speed route to Lisbon.

The vice president of Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) said on Monday that the location of the new airport is one of the variables that will determine whether the final section of the Porto-Lisbon high-speed rail line will run on the right or left bank. from Tagus.

“[O aeroporto] is one of the variables. If the airport is in Alcochete, this could be another reason to choose the left bank, but whoever has the right will discuss and decide this much later, and it is not necessary to make a decision now,” said Carlos Fernandez, speaking with Lusa on the sidelines. conference on high-speed trains in Lisbon.

The high-speed project was divided into three phases – Porto Sure, Sure-Carregado and Carregado-Lisbon – and, as the vice president of IP explained, for now only the first two need to be implemented, since the planned quadrupling of the Northern Line between Carregado and Alverca allows regular and high-speed trains to run, and there is no need to progress to the third stage in the coming years.

When the number of trains on the high-speed line “grows a lot,” Carlos Fernandes continued, it will be necessary to build the last section and there are two alternatives: either build a direct line to Lisbon along the right bank of the Tagus. River parallel to the Do Norte line, or build a line on the left bank that reaches Lisbon via the third bridge.

The official noted that the first option could cost around 1 billion euros, which is a “very expensive” project due to the need to build tunnels and viaducts to Gar do Oriente station.

An approach to Lisbon from the left bank of the river was already studied about ten years ago, but this idea was abandoned because at that time the project was developed in European gauge (distance between rails) and, as the person in charge explained, it was argued that there should be a direct connection with Lisbon. and not depend on the left bank.

“For now, since we have the Northern line and we are working on the Iberian gauge, we will always have a direct connection,” allowing us to consider the possibility of a second connection on the left bank.

Last week, the promoters of the airport in Santarem said that a change in the National Railway Plan (PFN) envisages an extension of 38 kilometers (km) between Carregado and Campo de Tiro de Alcochete, which will benefit the location, and an investment of more than 1500 km. million euros to establish this connection.

Carlos Brazão, a spokesman for the consortium promoting the Magellan 500 project, noted that the decision would allow the high-speed train to “loop 100 kilometers around Lisbon” and that the decision on this detour was made after a “workshop” between CTI and Infraestruturas de Portugal. (IP).

Proponents of the Santarem airport also mentioned that this bypass route along the left bank of the Tagus River had already been studied in 2007 and abandoned, and that some of the “decision makers” are the same people who have now made this decision .