New high speed train project facing criticism

The section, which should connect Vigo to Lisbon, will cost 1.65 billion euros, 500 million of which will be financed by European funds.

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A public consultation on the railway route of the high-speed line Porto -- Aveiro, consulted by Lusa, ended with 822 participations and generated criticism from municipalities crossed by the route, especially in the district of Aveiro.

According to the participa.pt portal, the public consultation of the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) of the Porto - Aveiro section, which ended on Friday and has been open since the 5th of May, generated 822 participations.

The Porto-Aveiro section of the future high-speed rail line that should link Vigo to Lisbon will cost 1.65 billion euros, with the help of European funds.

The Porto-Aveiro section is on lot A of the Porto-Soure connection, which corresponds to the first phase of the Porto-Lisbon line, whose start-up is scheduled for 2028, and "will be built on an electrified double track, with a maximum design speed of 300 km/h, for passenger-only traffic.”

The project also foresees a connection to the North line in several alternative solutions, enabling the arrival of high-speed services to the current Aveiro station, having studied "three possible alternatives" of connection in the area of Canelas, in the municipality of Estarreja (district from Aveiro).

“Zero alternative”

On the 7th of June, the Estarreja Municipal Assembly discussed the route, with the mayor, Diamantino Sabina, advancing that he would propose the "zero alternative", demanding that the project be abandoned, arguing that the municipality is already crossed by the Linha do Norte and by two motorways, the A1 and the A29, in addition to a gas pipeline, and will be even more "split up" with the line and its connection to the North Line, which will "separate" the Union of Parishes of Canelas and Fermelã , in Canelas.

The seven parties represented in the Municipal Assembly of Santa Maria da Feira approved, on June 14, the layout of the High Speed Line that does not foresee demolitions in that municipality in the district of Aveiro, but for the mayor, Emídio Sousa, the proposals from IP did not take into account projects representing "100 million euros and 1,200 jobs" in investments already planned for the areas to be expropriated, namely in the areas of expansion of the LusoPark business park.

The Câmara de Ovar unanimously approved, on the following day, Alternative 2.1 proposed by IP for the line, as it best preserves Arada and Válega, "absolutely rejecting Solution B", which was the one approved by the contiguous municipality of Santa Maria da Feira, for not foreseeing demolitions in that municipality.

Alternative routes

As part of the Porto-Aveiro project, route solutions A and B are proposed, two "alternative corridors with a common beginning in Oiã", in the municipality of Oliveira do Bairro (district of Aveiro), and "ending in the now planned AV station of Vila Nova de Gaia, located in Santo Ovídio", with 66 kilometers in length, with a single solution C between Santo Ovídio and Campanhã, 4.4 kilometers long, which involves the construction of a new bridge over the Douro.

The future crossing promotes an "image similarity" with the Luís I bridge, having "rail traffic on the upper deck and road, cycling and pedestrian traffic on the lower deck", and will cost 110 million euros.

In Porto, the insertion of the high-speed line at the current Campanhã station will affect the housing complexes known as 'islands' in that area, but only after the execution projects are concluded will the affected properties be known "with absolute rigor", according to the IP.

The document specifies that the project "may affect 42 homes, so it is estimated that the number of families and individuals affected is at least 21 families and 43 individuals", but also mentions that "the neighborhoods affected by the project will have a population of 46 families and 96 individuals".