Oporto Metro Metro do Porto
NB The Metro do Porto's own website light-rail system has further information on the system.
Above: Metro do Porto coupled units in operation during summer 2005.
Vehicles
On 22 May 2001 the first of 72 light-rail cars for the Metro do Porto, running on 1435mm gauge, was unveiled at Massarelos depot. These 35 metre vehicles are seven-sectioned Bombardier Eurotrams, each with a capacity of 291 people (80 seated). Final assembly of these vehicles was at Amadora, near Lisbon, in what used to be the Sorefame works which are now part of the Bombardier empire. Later Eurotrams were renamed Flexity Outlooks by Bombardier.
Street-running trials of the new vehicles began in June 2002 and a trial service to Senhor de Matosinhos was opened from 2 September 2002 but the first commercial runs were not until 7 December 2002. Services were free to users till the start of 2003 and a million passengers had been carried inside the first three months. Oporto has the biggest fleet of Eurotrams in operation anywhere. They are totally low-floor and bi-directional vehicles. Similar trams also operate in Strasbourg and Milan.
In 2006 the Metro ordered Flexity Swift trams to be delivered from late 2008. These are 3-section vehicles which, unlike the Outlooks, are only 70% low-floor and will be employed mainly on the longer Metro routes such as to Póvoa de Varzim. They have a top operating speed of 62mph (100kph). They are due for delivery from late 2008.
Above: Blue Line service at Estádio do Mar en route to Estádio do Dragão in June 2005. Note the presence of the security man, even at the surface stations in mid-afternoon.
The System
The Oporto Metro system is operated by Metro do Porto S.A., a body in which the local regional council and STCP (Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos do Porto), which operates the city's bus system, both have an interest. The Metro's shares are almost 70% owned by the local metropolitan authorities, with STCP (Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos do Porto) holding 25%. STCP operates the city's bus fleet. The remaining 5% of Metro do Porto is owned by the national railway operator, CP (Combóios de Portugal).
In 2005 the system carried nearly 18.5 million passengers, nearly double its 2004 level. By October 2006, 3,789,680 ticket validations were recorded and average daily trips numbered 122,248. The busiest line is line D and the busiest stations in 2006 were Trindade, with 28% of traffic followed by Casa da Música (8.5%), João de Deus (6.3%), Senhora da Hora (6.1%) and Bolhão (5.9%).
Lines
By 2008 there were five Metro lines, all of which run roughly north to south, though one of them, the Yellow Line D, bisects the other four at the two-level Trindade station in the city centre. Currently (2008) the network is 59km in length of which 7km is in tunnel. The tunnels include a 4km stretch under the centre on Line D, whilst a 2.35km tunnel links Trindade in the city to Campanhã main-line station in the outskirts. At the other end of the scale, Line D soars high above the River Douro on the magnificent Ponte D. Luís of 1886 (see below).
Right: Two trams at Póvoa, 2 October 2007, picture courtesy of Tim Fenton. The car on the left has just arrived with an Express service and will return on an all stops, while the one on the right has brought in a stopper and is preparing to leave on an Express.
The initial line was (and is) called line A or the Blue Line (Linha Azul). On 5 June 2004 the Blue Line from Trindade was extended via Bolhão, Campo 24 de Agosto, Heroísmo and Campanhã to the Estádio do Dragão (FC Porto's ground) which was its terminus (as of summer 2005). The western terminus is now Senhor de Matosinhos, which is reached from Trindade via Senhora da Hora. Much of the route is on reserved track. An extension further west via Leça da Palmeira is planned, as is one to the east to Gondomar (formerly served by trolley buses) but neither extension is yet being built. However, approval has been obtained for a competitive tender for constructing the line to Gondomar, initially involving the stretch from Estádio do Dragão to Venda Nova. The line will be almost 6.5km long of which about 1km will be underground and it will include 10 stations. The cost of the project is 95 million Euros.
Line B or the Red Line also terminates at the Estádio do Dragão and runs along the same route through central Oporto as Line A, to Senhora da Hora. In 2006 it was extended from there along the route of the former narrow gauge CP railway line via the town of Vila do Conde to Póvoa de Varzim, a seaside resort on the coast north of Oporto. Much of this is along the line of the country's earliest narrow-gauge line which ran to Póvoa from the then Oporto terminus of Boavista, to the west of the city centre. This railway was later extended into a new station at Trindade, just behind the impressive Oporto town hall. For the Metro to be built, Trindade CP station was demolished (see photos) and has now become a major hub of the Metro's operations.
The Green Line (Line C) was opened in 2005 and also starts at the Estádio do Dragãoin the south and runs the same route as Lines A and B until Fonte de Cuco, the stop after Senhora da Hora, north of the city centre. From Fonte de Cuco it currently goes as far as Fórum Maia (or ISMAI) but is to be extended further towards the town of Trofa according to plans yet not enacted. Trofa, like Póvoa de Varzim, was also formerly served by CP narrow-gauge trains. The Metro to the north towards Trofa and Póvoa de Varzim uses the same tunnel out of Trindade station as the narrow-gauge railway formerly did for those destinations.
Line D (Yellow) was opened on 17 September 2005 and runs along a 5.7km on a picturesque route across the River Douro to Vila Nova de Gaia, orignally from the northern location of Polo Universitário, but now (2008) starting at the Hospital São João. It also runs through Trindade, which is the only station through which all five existing Metro lines run. This line uses the upper deck of the famous Ponte D. Luís (bridge) across the Douro river, which underwent a major overhaul to accommodate it. Formerly this had been a two-level road-bridge. For more on Oporto's bridges, click here. This line is being extended south through Gaia to Santo Ovídio, a town once served by trolley buses from Oporto. Line D's 2006 terminus was at João de Deus but by May, 2008 it had reached one stop further south, at D. João II.
Line E (Violet) diverges, at Verdes twin-level station, to the west from the route to the north out of Oporto followed by Line B and runs to the city's Sá-Carneiro airport as a 1.4km branch off Line B. This extension opened on 27 May 2006.
Line F is a less certain venture. It would be a modern version of the former STCP tram route 19 via Boavista to the coast at Castelo do Queijo where it would join Metro Line A to Matosinhos.
Trindade Station
Trindade Station lies short distance behind the city's town hall and is the hub of the Metro service.
Until a few years ago, Trindade station (above in process of demolition in 2001) was a narrow gauge CP station for services to Póvoa do Varzim, Trofa and other towns north of the city. The adjacent photos show it as demolition took place. The top photo shows the frontage which, in the lower photo, is the white building in the lower left corner, with the frontage facing away from the camera to the left. The tracks ran more or less horizontally with the bottom of the photo, the buffers being sited on the left side of the image. It remained a building site as late as summer 2005 even though the Metro was operational behind the hoardings. The lower part of the now two-level station provides a tunnel connection to the main line station at Campanhã, which otherwise lies an inconvenient distance east of the city centre.
Trindade station being demolished in 2001
Tickets
A new Andante ticket has been introduced which is valid on the Metro and STCP bus services. Another instance of cooperation between different modes of transport is the bus interchange at Casa da Música metro station, which is at the site of the former main STCP tram shed at Boavista. Metro services run from 0600 to approx. 0130 hours.
Reading and Links
An excellent article by Manuel Tão and Carlos Fonseca on the Metro do Porto is in Today's Railways, No.120, December 2005.
Neil Pulling has written an excellent article on the Metro do Porto in Tramways & Urban Transit, no.851 (November 2008), pp. 418-422,
Interesting websites on the Oporto Metro are:
Pedro Gomes's site
A good photographic site
Copyright: ©
Compiled by John Laidlar
21 October 2008