Coimbra, Portugal, Dec. 16, 2025 (Lusa) - The prime minister said on Tuesday that the government would launch a public tender for the second phase of the high-speed rail line (Oiã to Soure) at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, after a previous failed attempt.
"Tomorrow [Wednesday] we will decide on another matter related to the Coimbra region. We will launch the procedure for the second phase of the high-speed line between Oiã and Soure," said Luís Montenegro, speaking at the inauguration ceremony for the Mondego Mobility System (SMM), which serves Coimbra, Lousã and Miranda do Corvo with electric buses running on a dedicated route.
For the Prime Minister, this project, also known as “metrobus”, will ensure "a connection to the Coimbra station of the high-speed line".
Luís Montenegro pointed out that the “metrobus” in Coimbra is "the most advanced project" of its kind in Portugal, which the government then intends to replicate in Braga, Aveiro and Leiria. These cities will also be served by the high-speed line (something the Minister of Infrastructure has already advocated).
"We are not only looking at this project, which had the ambition of solving a 30-year-old problem [...], but we are doing more than that. We are developing a strategy for the country that aims to solve mobility problems in urban centres simultaneously. Still, at the same time we are trying to have a network where we can all move around more quickly and easily," he said.
The second tender for the section of the high-speed line between Porto and Lisbon, which runs from Oiã (Oliveira do Bairro) to Soure, comes after the first procedure (launched in July 2024) failed, with the only proposal being rejected by the jury after proposing the diversion of the Coimbra -B station to Taveiro, outside the city of Coimbra, contrary to what was planned in the project.
The government even indicated that the public tender would be relaunched in May, then in the summer, and that the latest guarantee was made to the new mayor of Coimbra, Ana Abrunhosa, that the procedure would be opened by the end of this year.
Regarding the launch of the Mondego Mobility System (SMM), Luís Montenegro noted that this is "a very important day", recalling that the project has seen three decades of "advances and setbacks, a lot of anxiety, a lot of frustration and, at times, even indignation".
Despite recalling the past, the prime minister stressed that it is necessary to "look to the future", noting that the project "already has prospects for future development, with its expansion".
The SMM has "enormous potential," he said, noting that the system will also shorten distances, even though the travel time between Lousã and Coimbra is roughly the same as that provided by the railcar that ran on the railway branch line.
After the operation got off to a preliminary start in the urban section of Coimbra, the service was today extended to the municipalities that suffered most from the closure of the Lousã railway branch line, which closed in January 2010 to make way for a light rail system.
The project experienced several setbacks, changes and stoppages. Still, it was eventually relaunched as a “metrobus” by the government led by António Costa (PS), which awarded the main contracts for the project, which has a total cost of around €220 million.
JGA/ADB // ADB.
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