Train timing drops to 70% and IP does not predict improvements

A punctuality had been 77% in the first half of 2025 and 82% in the same period of 2024, according to the company's consolidated report and accounts released today to the Securities Market Commission (SCM).

The indicator corresponds to the aggregated punctuality verified throughout the running rail network and is measured by train delay upon arrival.

“ Global punctuality remained stable at 70%, showing, however, a less favorable performance in the services of Medium and Long Course, namely Alfa Pendular, Intercities, Interregional and Regional ", says IP.

The company attributes this development to the impact of speed limitations and ongoing works on the main rail axes, which condition journey times and “contribute to the worsening of delays”.

As correction measures, IP plans to prioritise the elimination of speed limitations with greater impact on the punctuality of Medium and Long Course services and strengthen the monitoring and coordination of works.

Despite these measures, the company acknowledges in the report that, with a target of 85% in 2026, “no improvement is expected for the next periods when compared to the figure now established [70%]”.

The traffic on the railway network also decreased by 3% on a homologous basis, to around 17 million train-kilometres – a unit measuring the total distance travelled by rail traffic – with a 2% reduction in passenger traffic and 9% in the freight segment.

IP points out among the factors that conditioned the circulation of the modernization works of the Douro Line, the weathers of the first months of the year, including storm Kristin, the recovery work on the lines of Beira Baixa and the West and the strikes recorded in June.

Adverse weather conditions have led to an estimated reduction of more than 650 thousand train-kilometres and an impact of around EUR 1.7 million on rail revenues.

In the first half of the year, 13 significant railway accidents were recorded, of which, according to IP, 11 “went from the activity and/or behaviour of third parties”. Of these, “3 with people in full lane, 5 in station and 3 in level crossings, with two collisions and one picked”, and “2 were assigned to IP, both associated with the collision of trains with an obstacle inside the gauge, involving trees and, in one case, also a barrier”.

IP recorded a consolidated profit of EUR 43.8 million in the first half, minus 44% in homologous terms, penalised by the increase in operational expenditure, partly due to weather, and the reduction of some income.

According to the company, the evolution of results reflected, among other factors, a reduction of EUR 17.7 million in revenues associated with the Consignation of the Road Service (CSR) and a decrease of EUR 9.1 million in other incomes and gains.

The IP also points to an increase of EUR 41.5 million in operational expenditure, related, inter alia, to interventions to conserve and restore the operational conditions of the infrastructure affected by the weather in the first months of the year.

Among the weather phenomena, the report highlights storm Kristin of January 28 and other episodes of intense and persistent precipitation during February.