Brussels, Nov. 5, 2025 (Lusa) - The European Commission has already allocated around €196 million to Portugal since 2014 for studies and work on the high-speed railway line with a view to the future Lisbon-Madrid connection, hoping that the project "will become a reality".
"The Madrid-Lisbon high-speed rail link will become a reality in the coming years. And, as you can see from the map and the efforts we have been making since the beginning of this mandate, we must ensure that the single market works well and that Europe is truly united, which means that I am in constant dialogue with the Ministers of Transport and Infrastructure of France, Spain and Portugal to ensure that the Iberian continent is well connected by rail and road in the coming years," said European Commissioner for Transport, Apostolos Tzitzikostas.
Speaking at a press conference in Brussels on the day the EU executive presented a plan for a European high-speed rail network, the European official responsible pointed out that "it is very important to ensure that there is adequate funding".
In response to Lusa, Apostolos Tzitzikostas said that "access to affordable transport [...] is provided by competition" when asked about possible prices compared to those of low-cost airlines, for example.
"If we offer people fast, well-connected trains that link many cities and capitals across Europe, with a way to get somewhere quickly and safely, you can be sure that citizens will definitely choose the train over any other means of transport," he said.
To date, according to data obtained by Lusa, the European Commission has already allocated €196 million from the Connecting Europe Facility, which finances the construction, development and modernisation of infrastructure, to five projects on the Portuguese side of the railway line, including sections originating in the ports of Setúbal and Sines.
Since 2014, €116 million has been allocated to the Sines/Elvas railway line on the Évora-Caia section and the technical station at kilometre (km) 118 of the southern line.
Between the following year and 2020, €2.5 million was mobilised for studies for the southern international corridor (Sines/Setúbal/Lisbon-Caia).
The second phase of the Évora-Caia section of the Sines/Elvas railway link has been awarded €55.8 million since 2016.
Since 2020, studies for the high-speed rail link for the Lisbon-Madrid section have been financed for a total of €3.9 million.
An additional €17.4 million has been allocated since 2021 for the Évora-Évora Norte section of the Sines/Elvas rail link.
Spain has received around €750 million in support since 2014 for the high-speed line connecting Extremadura to Madrid.
Last Thursday, the Portuguese and Spanish governments and the European Commission agreed on a set of measures that will enable the rail link between Lisbon and Madrid to be completed by 2030, with a journey time of five hours, which will then be reduced to three hours by 2034.
The project is part of Europe's commitment to railways.
The idea of connecting Lisbon and Madrid by high-speed rail has been discussed for several years, and in the 2000s, the Portuguese and Spanish governments had already agreed that the line should cross the border at Elvas and Badajoz.
On the Portuguese side, the high-speed section between Lisbon and Elvas was planned during the previous financial crisis, but the project was suspended due to costs, controversies over designs, and the need to adapt the railway gauge.
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