Coimbra, Portugal, Jan. 13, 2025 (Lusa) - Just after midnight on early Sunday morning, more than 200 people gathered to say goodbye to the last train leaving Nova Station in the centre of Coimbra, which has been closed after 140 years.
About 15 minutes before the last train left, people gathered at Nova Station (also known as Coimbra-A), some shouting slogans such as "It's a bad solution to close the station" and holding up banners against the long-announced end of the rail link to the city centre, which is planned in the Mondego Mobility System (SMM) project, with articulated electric buses running on a dedicated channel.
Around midnight, the mayor of Coimbra, José Manuel Silva, also arrived at the station, applauded by some of those present. He also made a point of making the last journey from Coimbra-A to Coimbra-B, accompanied by several members of his council and members of Metro Mondego, including its chairman, João Marrana.
Almost drowned out by people shouting, the mayor explained to journalists that the SMM project was a decision that "had been taken and consolidated" before he took office in 2021.
Several times, José Manuel Silva has said that reversing the route and project defined by the previous PS-led government would be "going back to square one".
Despite this, the mayor of Coimbra said that he could not miss being present for a "historic journey".
"I've already made the last journey from Coimbra-B to Coimbra-A and now we're going to make the last journey from Coimbra-A to Coimbra-B," he said.
The train, which was due to leave at 00:20 and was destined for Figueira da Foz, ended up leaving at 00:30, with a prolonged honking.
Most people decided to take the four-minute journey to Coimbra-B, with some staying at Nova Station to say goodbye to the train.
Although some conversations, songs and even slogans could be heard inside the carriages, silence prevailed among those making the journey along the River Mondego.
At the Coimbra-B exit, as people left the station, excerpts from Zeca Afonso's "Os Vampiros" (The Vampires) echoed: "They eat everything, they eat everything, they eat everything and leave nothing".
Luís Neto, from the Civic Movement for the New Station (MCEN), says he's already "at peace with the situation, but it's always an emotional moment".
"It's always an emotional moment and historic - as a mistake it's historic. It's the end of the rail link to the city centre," the movement member told Lusa, who, despite this lost fight, intends not to stop and to focus on other battles in defence of public transport and the railway in the region.
Duarte Miranda, who also participated in MCEN, recognises that the station had already ended when the SMM project was awarded.
"From then on, it's very difficult to go back. We tried, out of charity and dignity, to defend what we believed in. Still, the truth is that, from that moment on, it was very difficult to go back," said Duarte Miranda, impressed by the almost funereal silence during the journey to Coimbra-B.
Today, transport between the two stations will already be provided by a road transfer by Metro Mondego.
By the end of the year, the SMM's articulated electric buses are expected to be running where rails used to be.
JGA/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
