At the Spanish-Portuguese Summit held in May, both governments signed a Statement of Intent on Transports and Infrastructures of Cross-border Transport which includes temporary commitments for the development of the main connections, giving priority to railway networks.
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International bridge on the Porto-Vigo line. Photograph Paco Armada
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(15/06/2017)
The Statement of Intent refers to the joint progress in the development of the rail connections Sines-Lisbon/Caia-Madrid-Irun, Aveiro-Vilar Formoso/Fuentes de Oñoro-Salamanca-Medina del Campo-Irun and Porto-Vigo, with a calendar that marks the works on the first section of the Porto-Vigo link for 2018, the second section for 2019 and the Aveiro-Vilar Formoso and Sines-Caia sections between 2019 and 2021.
Final Statement
In the Summit’s Final Joint Statement, both heads of government highlighted the fruitful cooperation in the Atlantic Freight Train Corridor, the Joint Portuguese-Spanish Technical Bridge Commission and the working group for the development of the Atlantic Corridor for the Trans-European Transport Network.
The Statement considers the aim of continuing with the reduction and elimination of the existing bottlenecks, encouraging technical cooperation, and it urges rail infrastructure managers to work on improving technical compatibility and fixing a calendar for cross-border projects.
As far as passenger transport is concerned, the Statement emphasises the continuous increase of the demand in international services, especially in the Porto-Vigo link, while it urges operating companies to adapt their offer to the new mobility needs.
Regarding the Porto-Vigo link, the Statement covers the advances in the electrification and modernisation of the Nine-Viana do Castelo section and the recent launch of the tender for the Viana do Castelo/Valença do Minho section. The section between the border and Guillarei will be put out to tender when work on the Viana do Castelo/Valença do Minho Portuguese section is completed.
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