“The high-speed line between Madrid and Lisbon will become a reality in the coming years. As shown on the map and through our ongoing efforts since the beginning of this mandate, we must ensure the single market functions well and Europe is truly united. This entails maintaining constant dialogue with the Ministers of Transport and Infrastructure from France, Spain, and Portugal to ensure that the Iberian Peninsula is well connected by rail and road in the years to come,” stated Apostolos Tzitzikostas, European Commissioner for Transport.
Speaking at a press conference in Brussels on the day the European Commission presented its plan for a European high-speed rail network, the Commissioner emphasized the importance of securing adequate funding.
To date, according to data obtained by Lusa, the European Commission has allocated 196 million euros from the Connecting Europe Facility, which finances the construction, development, and modernization of infrastructure, to five projects on the Portuguese side of the rail line. This includes sections originating from the ports of Setúbal and Sines.
Since 2014, the Commission has supported the Sines/Elvas rail line, particularly the Évora-Caia section and technical station at kilometer 118 of the southern line, with 116 million euros.
Between the following year and 2020, 2.5 million euros were mobilized for studies on the southern international corridor (Sines/Setúbal/Lisboa-Caia).
The second phase of the Évora-Caia section on the Sines/Elvas railway has been awarded 55.8 million euros since 2016.
Since 2020, studies for the high-speed rail connection on the Lisbon-Madrid section have been financed with a total of 3.9 million euros.
An additional 17.4 million euros have been allocated since 2021 for the Évora-Évora Norte section of the Sines/Elvas rail connection.
Spain has received approximately 750 million euros in support since 2014 for the high-speed line connecting Extremadura to Madrid.
The governments of Portugal and Spain, along with the European Commission, agreed last Thursday on a set of actions that will allow the advancement of the rail connection between Lisbon and Madrid by 2030. The journey time is expected to be reduced to five hours, and later to three hours by 2034.
