Government moves forward high-speed rail to Vigo and Madrid

The Council of Ministers decided to move forward completion of the high-speed rail connection between Lisbon and Madrid to 2034, in coordination with Spain.

The aim of this decision is to offer a competitive rail alternative (namely compared to flights), with the following travel times as a target: 

• Porto-Lisbon – 1h15

• Lisbon-Madrid – 3h00

• Porto-Vigo – 0h50

High-Speed trains are a competitive rail alternative to the daily flights; 40 flights between Lisbon and Madrid and around 20 between Porto and Lisbon.

Lisbon-Elvas

At a national level, the impact will be a cut in the time to travel from Lisbon to Elvas to 2 hours by 2025 and to around 1 hour in 2034, once the entire track is fully running.

The connection between Évora and Elvas is currently under construction and set to enter into service in 2025. The third bridge over the Tagus in Lisbon still needs to be built to Poceirão, as well as the connection between Poceirão and Elvas.

The High Speed Rail will be fully complementary to the standard rail lines and the Spanish rail lines at our border: our gauge, power, and signalling systems.

Lisbon-Madrid

Linking Lisbon and Madrid, the High-Speed train will cut the travel time to 6 hours in 2027 and to three hours in 2034, once the entire track is fully running.

Of this line, the following connections are built: Badajoz-Placencia and Toledo-Madrid. The Évora-Elvas (Caia) and the Placencia-Talayuela (which will enter into service in 2027) connections are under construction, whereas the third bridge over the Tagus, the Poceirão-Évora, and the Talayuela-Toledo are yet to be built. 

The schedule of investments will be set with Spain to ensure the project is executed in a coordinated and timely manner, thereby fully optimizing the European funds available. 

Energy efficiency

The decision now taken by the Government to speed up the Lisbon-Madrid High-Speed Rail is linked to the need to decarbonise transportation, the transfer to more energy efficient means of transport, economic development, and territorial and social cohesion.

This High-Speed Rail link, which fulfils the 2030 National Investment Plan and the Atlantic Corridor Work Plan will also enable the rail sector to be decisively boosted in Portugal. 

The decision likewise contributes towards meeting the target set by the European Commission for Smart and Sustainable Mobility – to double the high speed rail passenger traffic, while also implementing the EU Green Deal and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.