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The Porto Metro () is a light rail network in Porto, Portugal and a key part of the city's public transport system. It runs underground in central Porto and above ground into the city's while using low-floor tram vehicles. The first parts of the system have been in operation since 2002.Webb, Mary (ed.) (2009). Jane's Urban Transport Systems 2009–2010, p. 277. Coulsdon, Surrey (UK): Jane's Information Group. .
The network has 6 lines and reaches seven municipalities within the metropolitan Porto area: Porto, Gondomar, Maia, Matosinhos, Póvoa de Varzim, Vila do Conde and Vila Nova de Gaia. It currently has a total of 85 operational stations across of double track commercial line. Most of the system is at ground level or elevated, but of the network is underground. The system is run by ViaPORTO.
The Porto Metro has received the Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design in 2013.
The project included the conversion of sections of the narrow gauge railway lines of Linha do Porto à Póvoa e Famalicão and Linha de Guimarães, including the section between Senhora da Hora and Trindade nowadays shared by 5 different lines. In 2001, train services came to an end as construction started.
Line A (blue line) was the first line to open on 7 December 2002, running between Senhor de Matosinhos and Trindade in central Porto. On 5 June 2004, the line was extended to Estádio do Dragão, Porto's largest football stadium, in time for the Euro 2004 Football championship.
On 3 March, 2005, Line B (red line) opened between Estádio do Dragão and . The remaining section between Pedras Rubras and Póvoa de Varzim was opened a year later in March 2006. This line replaced the Linha do Porto à Póvoa e Famalicão, a narrow gauge railway between Porto and Póvoa de Varzim. The section between Póvoa de Varzim and Famalicão had already been closed in 1995 and was not included in the project. Instead, it got decommissioned and converted into a bicycle trail. In July 2017, an infill station called was added. Line C (green line) opened on July 30, 2005, until in the centre of Maia and was extended until ISMAI in March 2006. Line C was built using part of the Guimarães line between Senhora da Hora and ISMAI. A section of this railway line between ISMAI and Lousado was decommissioned and expected to be serviced by the Porto Metro until Trofa, but as of 2024 it was only serviced by busses. The Guimarães line continued to have train services from Lousado via Linha do Minho.
Line D (yellow line) proved the most problematic to excavate and opened on 17 September 2005 between Câmara de Gaia in Vila Nova de Gaia and Pólo Universitário in the north. In the northern end, the São João Hospital and IPO stations, were not brought into service until March 2006 due to safety concerns. In the southern end, the line was expanded until in May 2008 and then to Santo OvÃdio in October 2011. In June 2024, the line was extended southwards by 3.15km with three new stations added, Manuel Leão, Hospital Santos Silva and Vila d'Este.
Line E (violet line) opened on May 27, 2006, connecting the Airport Francisco Sá Carneiro and Campanhã. Several weeks later, the line was extended to Estádio do Dragão.
Line F (orange line) opened on January 2, 2011, connecting the Porto city centre to the Gondomar region in the east, this line runs between Senhora da Hora and Fânzeres.
The Metro do Porto company managed and operated the Funicular of Guindais between 2004 and 2019. Management was transferred to Porto municipality in 2019 and to a municipal company called STCP Serviços in 2022.
| 79 |
| 425 |
| 355 |
| 5.2 |
| 97% |
| 83.2 |
The majority of services run with two LRVs coupled together. The Eurotram consists of four main compartments, two in each carriage linked by short corridors, and also features an articulation between the two carriages. They have a capacity of 80 seated and 134 standing passengers. The Flexity Swift consists of three components linked by articulations, with a capacity of 100 seated and 148 standing passengers. The CT consists of four articulated components, having a capacity of 244 passengers, 64 of which are seated.
Various ticketing options exist to use the Porto Metro. Paper tickets called Blue Andante ( Andante azul) can be bought and recharged in machines in stations. These can be charged with single trips or 24 hour tickets. Monthly passes called Silver Andante ( Andante prateado) can be purchased in Lojas Andante (Andante Shops) and topped up at Multibanco ATM terminals. They are personalized PVC cards with the name and picture of the holder. They are free for students between the ages of 4 and 18 and discounts exist for families, seniors, veterans and lower income households. Other ticketing options under the Andante system include Andante Tour, a 24 or 78 hour ticket for tourists, the Anda App, an app available for Android and contactless card payments on some readers. Children under 4 years old do not require a ticket if they are accompanied by an adult.
The Porto Metro operates on a proof-of-payment system. Tickets must be validated before travel by scanning them in front of the yellow machines located in stations. Instead, groups of fare inspectors randomly check tickets with hand-held scanners. As of October 2024, the penalty for travelling without a validated ticket is €95.
| 23 | 7 December 2002 | Bombardier Flexity Outlook (Socimi Eurotram) | |||
| 36 | 13 March 2005 | Bombardier Flexity Swift | |||
| 24 | 30 July 2005 | ||||
| 19 | 18 September 2005 | Bombardier Flexity Outlook (Socimi Eurotram) | |||
| 21 | 27 May 2006 | ||||
| 24 | 2 January 2011 | ||||
| 4 | To open in late 2025 or early 2026 | Bombardier Flexity Outlook (Socimi Eurotram) | |||
| 8 | To open during 2026 | ||||
| 7 | To open during 2025 | Hydrogen cell bus |
Between Trindade and Senhora da Hora stations, the line uses the inner part of the route of the old Porto to Póvoa de Varzim railway line. Between Trindade and Estádio do Dragão stations it uses a new tunneled alignment, whilst between Senhora da Hora and Senhor de Matosinhos stations it mostly uses a new surface alignment, albeit with short sections coinciding with the route of the Matosinhos branch railway. Socimi Eurotram number 001–072 service the line.
The regular B service stops at all stations, whilst the express Bx service stops only at principal stations between Póvoa de Varzim and Senhora da Hora and at all station between Senhora da Hora and Estádio do Dragão. On weekdays during the day, each service provide two trams per hour in each directions. During weekends and in the evenings only the B service runs twice or thrice per hour in each directions. The regular service takes just over an hour between Póvoa de Varzim and Estádio do Dragão, while the express service saves approximate 10 minutes.
Although no extensions are planned, consideration was given to use the abandoned Famalicão branch of the old Póvoa Line, converted to a cycle path after closure, to reach Mourões and Barreiros, near Avenida 25 de Abril.
The line reuses part of the route of the old Porto to Guimarães railway line, albeit with a significant section of new alignment through the city of Maia. Line C was originally projected to service the city of Trofa, previously served by this railway line. While, this project was never pursued, the Porto Metro provides a bus link between the ISMAI and Trofa.
Line D runs on an entirely new alignment, partly on the surface and partly underground, separate from all the other lines of the Porto Metro. It connects with lines A, B, C, E and F at Trindade station. Between Hospital São João and Santo OvÃdio stations the service runs every 5 to 6 minutes during workdays, or every 10 minutes on weekends and evenings. Half of the trams have a southern terminus at Santo OvÃdio, thus frequency is halves in the rest of the line until Vila d'Este. The travel time for the whole line is just over 30 minutes.
Line E was specifically built to serve Porto Airport, and Aeroporto station is directly accessible from the terminal building. The station is at the end of a short branch off line B of the Metro, which it joins at , sharing tracks variously with lines A, B, C and F for the rest of its route.
It is expected that the line will be extended from Senhora da Hora to Senhor de Matosinhos, which is the current teminus of Line A. This extension is shown on new official network maps of the Porto Metro, but as of February 2025 it has not been incorporated into the official timetable.
Besides the shared segment between Senhora da Hora and Estádio do Dragão, Line F runs mainly above ground. It is the only service operating in the municipality of Gondomar, and it transported 9 million people in 2024.
Future expansion
See also
External links
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