Porto, May 15, 2025 (Lusa) - An official from Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) said on Thursday that the section in Soure, in the district of Coimbra, withdrawn from the second tender for the Porto-Lisbon high-speed line will be transferred to the third public-private partnership (PPP) of the project.
"We have slightly altered the conditions. This new tender is 11 kilometres shorter, and the connections in Soure will not be included here either. They will be transferred to PPP3, for phase two," said Henrique Teles, an IP official, today in Porto.
Speaking at the Railway Transport Seminar organised by Transportes & Negócios magazine, which is taking place today at a hotel in Porto, he said that the tender for the second PPP for the high-speed line will be relaunched on 31 May, after the proposal from the only competitor in the previous tender (the LusoLav consortium) was not accepted.
"We had one competitor, but they did not comply with the specifications, so we are reconverting and will launch a new tender. We have already made the announcement in the European Union newspaper, and we will therefore launch the tender for the PPP at the end of this month, on 31 May," he said.
The new public tender for the second public-private partnership (PPP) for the high-speed line maintains the station in Coimbra-B but reduces several concession charges.
According to a prior information notice published on 23 April by IP in the supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), the tender is being amended to change the route, which previously ran from Oiã (Oliveira do Bairro, Aveiro district) to Soure (Coimbra district) and will now be in Taveiro, in the municipality of Coimbra, about 10 kilometres to the north.
Specifically, the tender includes a 60 km double-track line with a gauge of 1,668 mm [Iberian] for passengers and a maximum speed of 300 km/h, with connections to the Northern Line in Oiã, Adémia, and Taveiro, totalling 22 km in length.
The first tender, launched in July 2024, received a single bid, which was rejected by the jury. It envisaged connections between the high-speed and Northern lines covering approximately 34 kilometres, including Soure, whose connection has now been withdrawn.
The new public tender also ensures that the project to "adapt Coimbra B station" will go ahead, including the "general redesign of the layout and adaptation to high speed" and "a new passenger building with parking and an interface", ruling out the possibility of changing the station's location.
Also included are the "quadrupling of the Northern Line between Taveiro and the southern entrance to Coimbra B Station, the installation of a catenary feeder between the current Alfarelos electric traction substation and the Taveiro Connection area, including the adaptation of this substation, and a new substation in Coimbra".
However, the tender will not include "maintenance of Coimbra B Station, the section of the Northern Line undergoing work and the AMV [track switching devices] to be installed on the three connections to the Northern Line, as these assets will be transferred to IP upon receipt".
The Lisbon-Porto high-speed line is expected to connect the country's two main cities in around one hour and 15 minutes, with possible stops in Gaia, Aveiro, Coimbra and Leiria.
JE/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
