Electrification of the line from the Algarve, completed in 2020 – the Observer

the electrification of The railway line of the Algarve, a total of 102 kilometres, will be completed by 2020, a global investment of 33.6 million euros, he said, this Friday, the minister for Planning and Infrastructure. "In the next few weeks we will launch the competitions of the studies and projects required, and we want that the work be completed a year earlier than initially planned, by the end of 2020," he said to the journalists Pedro Marques, on the sidelines of the presentation of the project, in Portimão, in the Algarve.

according To the ruler, this is a very complex work – there are still projects to their execution-but "very important and hoped for the mobility of the region." "What we have to say today, clearly, is that this commitment that the Government signed up in the mappings europeans to the investment in the electrification of the line from the Algarve, and that was intermittent in the previous governments [will advance], and we anticipate that the work to be completed during the year 2020", he said.

The contract for the electrification of the railway line of the Algarve has a total value of 33.6 million euros, by dividing the work by the electrification of the sections of the Tunis-Lagos (14 million) and Faro-Vila Real de Santo António (18 million). For the signalling and other works are intended for approximately 1.6 million euros.

The Government estimates that the electrification projects and the environmental studies have started during the month of January, pointing to the third quarter of this year the opening of the competition for the contract for design/implementation of the expansion of the substation for electric traction of Tunis.

The launch of the tender for construction of electrification is planned for the third quarter of 2018. The minister for Planning and Infrastructure said that the project of the railway connection to the airport of Faro is one of your priorities, being considered of extreme importance for mayors, entrepreneurs and responsible tourism in the region.

"we don’t know if this is possible from the environmental point of view. In the coming months we will launch the Environmental Impact Study and, if possible, from the point of view of environmental and intermodality between road and rail, this investment will have to be perspetivado to be done after the electrification of the line from the Algarve," said Pedro Marques.