Porto, Aug. 18, 2025 (Lusa) - The public tenders for the Metro do Porto connections to Gondomar and the BRT (metrobus) to Trofa could be launched in the first quarter of 2026, with the environmental analysis being submitted in the coming weeks, according to the company's chairman.
"In the first quarter of 2026, the company will be in a position to launch the tenders for the construction of these two works," Metro do Porto president Tiago Braga, who is due to step down from the presidency of the company in the coming weeks, told Lusa in an interview.
He said that "the preliminary studies are being finalised to submit them to the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) in August or the beginning of September". At that point, "everything will be completed" and then "the Environmental Impact Statement will be obtained".
Taking stock of the six years he has been at the helm of the company (2019-2025), Tiago Braga recalled the “approximately €1.7 billion” in Metro do Porto's current investment cycle, not all of which are “yet in physical execution”.
Tiago Braga listed projects such as "the [extension of the] Yellow line, the Pink line, the BRT [Bus Rapid Transit, aka metrobus], the Rubi line, the Trofa line [in metrobus], the Gondomar line, the studies of the Maia II line, the São Mamede [Infesta, Matosinhos] line, the continuation of the Pink line to Asprela, the PMO [Material and Workshop Park] in Vilar de Andorinho, or the new headquarters," which "cannot be undervalued".
"I always look back on these six years with a very critical eye, trying to identify what didn't go so well," he said, but considers that it would be "disrespectful to the thousands of technicians" involved in the projects to say that the period "didn't go well and was a failure".
Concerning one of the current projects, the Rubi Line, "it's going according to plan", despite "some problems on the bridge", where part of the bridge deck over the River Douro will already be visible by the end of the summer, and the line is expected to open to traffic at the end of 2026, separately, in Gaia and Porto, still without a crossing.
Tiago Braga also said that the extension of the Metro do Porto sub-concession until March 2027 was "a management decision by Metro do Porto", rejecting any kind of favouritism towards the current operator, ViaPorto, of the Barraqueiro group.
"We didn't want a change of sub-concessionaire to take place at the same time as the lines were inaugurated" and "add risk", since a new line "requires a great deal of interaction with the sub-concessionaires, from hiring and training teams, the availability of drivers and technicians to carry out integrated and dynamic tests, the availability to carry out signalling and “gabarit” tests", he explained.
Regarding the metrobus solution for Trofa, rejected by movements in the region, he recognised that the "rationality of the operation" and the quality of the service provided to passengers could be affected by the metro only going as far as Muro and forcing a change to a metrobus the rest of the way, but said that "this is what ensures the sustainability of the service".
"Without positive economic NPVs [net present values] there is no funding," he emphasised, when asked about the inclusion of economic and financial studies in the European Union's requirements for funding the projects.
Tiago Braga also said that funding has not yet been secured for the São Mamede and Maia II line (which could be metro or metrobus), and when asked if there might be a temptation to build the Porto circular line first, he said that this line "always makes sense", but "there is room to be able to guarantee the resources" to fund everything after 2030.
He also mentioned that, in the case of the future São Mamede line's articulation with the Leixões railway line, which reopened to passengers in February, the articulation with CP is not happening as intensely and systematically as it should.
"There should be an entity, which I think is TMP [Transportes Metropolitanos do Porto] - and that's why I fought hard for the existence of TMP - that can acquire competences not only in terms of road transport, but the transport ecosystem", including "rail, light rail, scooters, bicycles" and also parking or "intermodal station centres or terminals".
He also said that, with the new validators installed, he is waiting for TMP to implement contactless bank card payments throughout the metro network (currently only possible in some stations), preferring to do so throughout the Andante system, but "if the global solution takes too long", Metro do Porto will go ahead on its own.
To replace Tiago Braga, the government intends to appoint the rector of the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Emídio Gomes, as the next chairman of Metro do Porto, a move that was already approved by the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP) in July.
JE/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
