Rail traffic will be resumed, for now, between Mouriscas-A and Ródão, with regional and intercity services being restored. The recovery of the infrastructure, following the storms of the beginning of the year, cost EUR 3.4 million.
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03/09/2026
by
News to Minutes
A traffic on the Beira Baixa railway line, partially suspended due to damage caused by the storms of the beginning of the year, will be resumed next September 20 between the stations of Mouriscas-A and Ródão, announced this Thursday the Infrastructures of Portugal (IP).
In a statement, IP informs that this reopening will allow CP – Comboios de Portugal and rail freight operators “to resume circulation in this section, interrupted following the damage caused by extreme weather phenomena associated with the storm ‘Kristin’”.
With this reopening, the regional and intercity services will be restored to the full extent of the Beira Baixa Line, and the capacity of the national railway network will also be strengthened “by ensuring redundancy with the Beira Alta Line for international rail freight”, the company says.
The recovery of the infrastructure cost EUR 3.4 million.
The IP recalls that the intervention was necessary “in the wake of two landslides, between the kilometres 39,150 and 39,270, which caused instability on the railway platform and forced the suspension of traffic”
The company also explains that the work took place “in particularly demanding conditions, due to limited access to the site, the instability of the railway platform, the small space available for the handling of equipment and the difficulties in the transport of materials, aggravated by the high temperatures recorded during the execution of the work”.
On the other hand, the work included “stabilization of the slopes, with the application of about 5 500 m3 of encroachment, the construction of two reinforced concrete structures based on microstacks to strengthen the railway platform and an intermediate crowning beam, between the two structures, as well as the rehabilitation and improvement of the drainage system, including hydraulic passages”.
“ The full replacement of the railway, telecommunications, land systems and other affected railway infrastructure was also carried out”, the same statement details.
The intervention has therefore made it possible to strengthen infrastructure security conditions.
For Paulo Carmona, president of Portugal’s Infrastructures, the reopening of the Beira Baixa line represents “much more than the completion of a work”, but the return of “a railway link essential to the people, after the interruption caused by the weather”.
The Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Hugo Espírito Santo, had already announced in July that the circulation on the Beira Baixa railway line could be reopened in September or October, “just before what we were thinking.”.
The Beira Baixa Line is a railway link with about 240 kilometers (km) that unites the Enthroncamento à Guarda, passing by Abrantes, Castelo Branco and Covilhã.
Following the adverse weather conditions that occurred in February and consequent damage to railway infrastructure, train traffic is partially suspended on this line.
According to information made available on the official ‘site’ of the company Comboios de Portugal, since March 16 and as long as the roadway repair interventions are carried out, a replacement road service is carried out to Intercidades service trains, between Abrantes-Guarda, as well as those of regional service between Mouriscas A-Vila Velha de Ródão.
From July 11th, the Intercities train replacement road service also stopped in Belmonte.
Regional trains run between the Breach and Mouriscas A and between Vila Velha de Ródão and Castelo Branco and the Intercities circulate between Lisbon-Santa Apolónia and Abrantes.
The storms also affected the West Line which, according to the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, should have normalized circulation in January 2027.
Portugal was hit by a storm train earlier this year. At least 19 people died in Portugal between the end of January and the beginning of March following the passage of the depressions Kristin, Leonardo and Marta, which also made several hundred wounded, displaced and displaced. More than half of the deaths were recorded in recovery work.
The storms, which reached the continental territory for about three weeks, especially in the Central, Lisbon and Vale do Tejo and Alentejo regions, caused the total or partial destruction of thousands of homes, businesses and equipment, the fall of trees and structures, the cutting of energy, water and communications, floods and floods, with losses of more than EUR 5 billion.