Almada, Setúbal, Jan. 14, 2025 (Lusa) - The mayor of Almada, on the south bank of the River Tagus in Lisbon, on Tuesday warned of the urgent need to increase the number of passenger carriages on the 25 de Abril Bridge trains, in order to resolve the constraints, particularly at Pragal station.
Several passengers of the railway service provided by Fertagus, which connects the south bank to Lisbon, have been complaining on social media and in alerts addressed to the local authority that since the timetables for this transport were changed, trains leaving Setúbal fill up quickly, leaving passengers behind, particularly at Pragal station, in the municipality of Almada.
In view of these complaints, the mayor of Almada, in the district of Setúbal, was at Pragal station today and in a statement to journalists warned that the problem needed to be resolved.
"The constraints that we have noticed, and very intensely, are due to a reformulation following a renewal of the concession contract that the government made with Fertagus. In fact, the frequency has increased and we have no doubt about the importance of this, but it has one major drawback, which is that there is no increase in the number of carriages," said Inês de Medeiros.
The mayor added that the public in Almada and Seixal have suffered the most from the new service model, because when the trains arrive they are already full.
In December, the company decided to change the train timetables between the two banks of the Tagus to 20 minutes in both directions.
The increase in the train timetable between Lisbon and Setúbal was announced in November by the ministry for infrastructure and housing, as part of the extension of the Fertagus concession contract for six and a half years, until 31 March 2031.
Until December, Fertagus trains between Setúbal and Lisbon (Roma-Areeiro) stations ran every 30 minutes on weekdays and every 60 minutes on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
However, passengers are complaining that this change has not been accompanied by an increase in the number of carriages, and there have been reports of passengers from stations in the districts of Almada and Seixal (Coina, Fogueteiro, Foros de Amora, Corroios and Pragal) not being able to get a seat at the time they usually travelled.
"It doesn't make sense for this increase in frequency to translate into a decrease in carriages. I think there's been a miscalculation. I understand the difficult exercise that Fertagus has been trying to do in managing the trains, and so this is also the appeal that we are making here: to quickly rethink the number of carriages," she said.
Inês de Medeiros said that she has been in constant contact with the management of Fertagus, a company that she says has recognised some problems.
"We know that they are reorganising. We hope that there will be improvements by Monday, but we also know that they will be insufficient given what we have seen in recent days," she emphasised, stressing that the urgent need is to increase the number of carriages, since demand for this service has increased by 30% in the last year.
The rail link between Lisbon and the south bank was inaugurated on 29 July 1999 with the aim of removing cars from the 25 de Abril Bridge.
The crossing links the Roma-Areeiro stations in Lisbon to Setúbal, and has 10 stations on the south bank and four in the capital.
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