(08/11/2023) 

The Forum gathered political and business personalities from both countries who addressed the need to ‘connect both European capitals through an efficient railway network’, as the coordinator of the Portuguese-Spanish platform that endorses this initiative explained. This entity works to ‘promote and make this project a reality as a new axis of European development’.

Following this trend, more than 28,000 organizations and individuals have signed to date the ‘Manifesto for the promotion of the Iberian Southwest Corridor’.

Infrastructures

The objectives set involve the complete electrification of the Lisbon-Madrid line between 2026 and 2027. A project that is already underway, since it is almost a reality between Plasencia and Badajoz, while work continues on the files and sections that are left, which are seven. Two of them are finished and five are underway. With respect to Portugal, a great part of the Portuguese section is expected to be concluded in 2025.

The Iberian Southwest Corridor has set three key dates until 2030. The first one is about to be completed, since a direct Lisbon-Madrid train is expected for 2024. The next key date will come between 2026 and 2027, when the Lisbon-Madrid line is fully electrified. Finally, the high-speed line between both European cities should exist in 2030.