Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, April 9, 2025 (Lusa) - A proposal to relocate a planned high-speed train station in Vila Nova de Gaia, the municipality south of the River Douro from Porto, from the original site of Santo Ovídio to Vilar do Paraíso would remove the direct connection to the Porto metro's Yellow Line, although an extension to the Ruby Line is now being proposed.
According to a proposal by LusoLav, the consortium of companies (Mota-Engil, Teixeira Duarte, Alves Ribeiro, Casais, Conduril and Gabriel Couto) responsible for the first section of the high-speed train line (between Porto and Oiã) that Lusa has seen, the consortium intends to relocate the station in Gaia from the Santo Ovídio area to Vilar do Paraíso.
This change, if it is authorised and approved by Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP), the state enterprise for which the work is being done, will mean that the planned connection to the Yellow Line, at both the D. João II metro station (where a bus station was also planned) and at the Santo Ovídio one, will be abandoned, since it was planned that the high-speed line and the Porto metro's Yellow and Ruby Lines would converge at Santo Ovídio.
In return, the LusoLav consortium is proposing to build an extension of the Ruby Line, currently under construction, to the new station in Vilar do Paraíso, "with the creation of an intermediate station in Laborim" - according to the of the project to which Lusa has had access.
Thus, to reach the Yellow Line, passengers would have to take another metro line and then transfer, instead of having direct access at Santo Ovídio.
The municipal documents on the proposal state that "with regard to the extension of the Ruby Line from Santo Ovídio station, it should be noted that, given the high density and overlapping of infrastructures at this location, this work appears to be quite complex, forcing the road access to be diverted to the west, over a landscaped slope, with a negative impact being foreseen, given the proximity to existing residential buildings.."
LusoLav also proposed "costs shared between the consortium (heavy works) and Metro do Porto (installation of the line and its equipment)" for the connection to the proposed new station.
The municipal documents also state that although the high-speed train station could be moved from Santo Ovídio, between the current Santo Ovídio and D. João II metro stations, "the municipality should continue with the Detailed Plan that is currently being drawn up for the site."
According to a proposal designed by the Catalan architect and urban planner Joan Busquets for the current Santo Ovídio roundabout, which was to be the confluence point of the high-speed railway lines and the Yellow and Ruby lines of the Metro do Porto, a ‘kiss and ride’ square is planned, where vehicles could pick up and drop off passengers.
According to the November 2023 version of the plan, Busquets made a "paving proposal to unify the urban space of Santo Ovídio" - including the current roundabout, the upper part of the future Ruby Line station and a traffic island between Avenida da República and Rua de Soares dos Reis.
The plan also aims to urbanistically unite the old Santo Ovídio chapel with the new parish church, with a single stretch of paving between the buildings, turning what is currently a congested roundabout with seven junctions into a square.
It was also planned to create a "large square" next to the D. João II metro station over the underground Santo Ovídio high-speed train station, as well as a large-capacity bus terminal for both urban and regional buses.
In addition to the "big square" for the D. João II station, the detailed plan also envisaged reducing the prominence of the Santo Ovídio roundabout, turning it into a square.
LusoLav's proposed amended plans are to be put to the vote at an extraordinary meeting of the executive of Gaia city council on Thursday at 4 p.m., as well as at a meeting of the Municipal Assembly on the same day at 9 p.m.
JE/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
