PORTUGAL: Suburban services in the Matosinhos district of Porto were enhanced on February 9 with the partial reopening of the Leixões line to passengers after a hiatus of 14 years.
Trains are now running over a 19 km section of the railway that links Porto with the nearby port of Leixões. Starting from Porto’s Contumil station, the revived service serves São Gemil, São João Hospital, São Mamede de Infesta, Arroteia and Leça do Balio.
Opened in 1938, the Leixões line has seen mixed fortunes as a passenger route despite passing through densely populated areas of Portugal’s second city. After opening, passenger services lasted until 1966, after which the line saw only freight traffic. It was electrified in 1998, and passenger trains were reintroduced in 2009. However, two years later they were suspended due to low ridership. These services only operated between Leça do Balio and Ermesinde, and did not serve all the intermediate stations.
Two trains per hour are now running in each direction on weekdays, with 30 trains per day running at weekends. The reopening has been delivered rapidly following an agreement signed in March last year between national infrastructure manager IP, operator Comboios de Portugal and Matosinhos municipality, in which the three entities committed to modernise stations, improve accessibility and ensure rolling stock was available for the service.
The Leixões line is now part of CP’s Porto suburban network, and interchange with long-distance trains is available at Contumil. IP has managed the construction of new stations at Hospital de São João and Arroteia.
The project partners have plans to extend the service through to Leixões, although no date has yet been set for this second phase.
