Porto, May 15, 2025 (Lusa) - An official from Infraestrutura de Portugal (IP) said in Porto on Thursday that railway works on the Beira Alta Line will be completed by the end of the semester, followed by certification, with a more uncertain schedule.
"We plan to complete the railway works at the end of this semester, in late June/early July, and then enter the certification phase, which is a phase that we do not know how long it will take, because it depends on independent entities over which IP has no control," Henrique Teles said today.
The IP official was speaking during the Rail Transport Seminar organised by Transportes & Negócios, which is taking place today at a hotel in Porto.
"We hope the certifications will be complete in the year's second half. The minister [of Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz] has already said that [certification] would be issued in the summer, so that is our expectation, that we will have certification completed in the summer," he said.
On 31 March, the minister for Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, said that the civil construction work on the Beira Alta Line had been completed, but pointed out that the certification period is likely to take "a few months" and will determine when it can reopen.
"It became clear today that the civil construction work was completed in the first quarter of 2025, and now we are going to start the steps for certification for commercial opening," Miguel Pinto Luz said at the time.
That day, Pinto Luz made a technical visit to the Beira Alta railway line, which runs between the railway stations of Mortágua and Pampilhosa.
At the end of the journey, at Pampilhosa station, Pinto Luz told journalists that the certification process is long and "will certainly take a few months". He therefore did not give any date for its reopening.
The Beira Alta line closed in April 2022 for modernisation work, which was expected to take nine months.
The section between Guarda and Celorico da Beira reopened in November 2024, while the section between Celorico da Beira and Mangualde finally opened for commercial service on 6 April.
According to Pinto Luz, the strategy outlined last year by the government and Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) to partially open each section "is a winning strategy" because it has "allowed citizens to use this line".
He emphasised to journalists that the investment in a project "of this magnitude and complexity" was less than €675 million, almost 50% of which was financed by EU funds.
This project is extremely important, particularly the Mealhada junction. He said that we cannot work on roads and railways separately from national port and logistics policies.
For the minister, investment in railways should be a priority, since “Portugal is well ahead of the European average in terms of roads, but far behind the European average in terms of railways”.
JE/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
