Portugal: International South Corridor - NEW ÉVORA LINE

Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) has launched the public tender for the new Évora Line, a rail section between Évora and the Leste Line, near the city of Elvas, which will be part of the future International South Corridor.

The Évora Line will have a total length of approximately 100 km, 80 of those being newly constructed, in electrified single track (25kV-50Hz), ballasted with UIC60 rails and multivalent concrete sleepers. 52 over and underpasses, 29 railway bridges and viaducts and 3 technical stations will be built along the section.

The construction of this new rail infrastructure will constitute the largest railway expansion in Portugal over more than a century.

The start of this new rail link is marked by the launch on Monday, 5^th of March 2018, of the public tender for the construction of the section with 20,5 km of length between Évora Norte and Freixo, being followed on the next weeks by the launch of the tenders for the construction of the sections Freixo-Alandroal (20,5 km) and Alandroal-Leste Line (38,8 kilometers).

The future Line between Évora and Elvas amounts to an investment of 530 million € with European funding.

MODERNIZATION OF THE LESTE LINE

The 5^th of March marks also the beginning of modernization works of the Leste Line rail section, with 11 km of length, between Elvas and Caia (by the border with Spain) which will be a part of the future International South Corridor.

The investment amounts to 23,2 million € which comprise, among others, the following activities:

• Expansion of the Elvas Rail Station accommodating freight trains with 750 m of length
• Full renewal of the track superstructure
• Treatment of the rail platform, improvement of drainage, stabilisation of slopes and construction of supporting and containment structures
• Installation of infrastructures for future implementation of electronic signalling (ETCS and GSM-R) and remote control of catenary
• Construction of catenary foundations for electrification purposes
• Safety improvement of rail-road circulation by means of the construction of road over and underpasses to supress the existing 4 level crossings along the section
• Deck substitution and pillar reinforcement of the centenary rail bridges Ponte do Caiola and Ponte do Caia.