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In the last 30 years, 1.5 billion euros have been spent on the Northern railway line, but even so the journey between Lisbon and Porto by train will take two hours and 58 minutes, exactly the time it took in 1977. The comparison is made by “Jornal de Notícias”, regarding the eight minute delay on this route, due to the new works with Gaia.
Now, 1,500 million euros is what it would cost to build a high-speed line between the two main cities of the country, recalls the “JN”. Modernization plans began in 1988, under the Cavaco Silva government, at a time when 53% of the highway had never been renovated. At that time, a Porto-Lisbon axis was being studied “with a maximum connection time of 1h15 to 1h30”, Arménio Matías reminds JN, former administrator of the PC. Several studies and forecasts arrived later on the Alfa Pendular, in 1999, which began to make Lisbon-Porto in 3h30 hours, without reaching the 200km / h aspired in 1991. In 2018, the travel time was only reduced to 2h50, current time about to increase due to construction.
The connection between Espinho and Gaia will receive an investment of 55.3 million euros. This renovation will involve the elimination of road and pedestrian level crossings, and the construction of 17 slopes. The work is expected to be completed in late 2022, three years after the defined completion period. And Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, president of Câmara de Gaia, recalls that “the works should have started much longer, in 2009”.
