Portugal starts work on Lisbon–Porto high-speed railway
The completed line will cut the journey between the two cities to 1 hour and 15 minutes, with construction beginning on the Porto-Campanhã–Oiã section.
Portugal began building its high-speed railway between Lisbon and Porto on 12 October 2026. The initial works cover the stretch from Porto-Campanhã to Oiã in Aveiro district, for which the government puts the concession contract’s cost at around €2 billion.
The first section will extend for 71 kilometres. Plans include a bridge carrying both road and rail traffic across the Douro River, a station at Vila Nova de Gaia-Santo Ovídio, and enlargement and redesign of the Porto-Campanhã Intermodal Station.
The concession agreement was signed on 29 July 2025. The government said the project would receive financing of €875 million from the European Investment Bank and €480 million from the Connecting Europe Facility. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing described the arrangement as a public-private partnership.
The government links the railway to its national airport strategy, saying it will support Lisbon’s new airport and improve connections with Spain. It also says the project will help establish a Lisbon–Madrid journey of roughly three hours by 2034. Miguel Pinto Luz, Portugal’s minister of infrastructure and housing, stressed the importance of national agreement on high-speed rail and investment in the wider railway system.
