Porto tram no. 213 on line 1. Photo by Thierry Leleu, April 2007.

Overview

The "second city" of Portugal, Porto, much of which has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site and is home to the Port wine trade, is building a metro system, similar to light rail or "premetro" systems elsewhere in Europe. Using Adtranz "Eurotrams" similar to those in Strasbourg, France, and Milan, Italy, the first line of the metro (the blue line) consists of a tunnel through the city center and recaptured rail lines in the outskirts of the city. The track gauge is international standard 1435mm gauge, with low floor platforms at stations. There are 10 underground stops and perhaps 30 surface stops. Testing of the surface portion of the line began in 2002, and the underground tunnel from Trindade to the suburban railway station at Campanhã opened June 6, 2004. The current eastern terminus at Estádio do Dragão soccer arena opened slightly later in June, 2004. A second line (the yellow line), currently under construction, will use the top level of the double-deck Ponte Dom Luis I, a steel arch bridge opened in 1886. The bridge, built by Teófilo Seyrig, a colleague of Eiffel, is probably Porto's most prominent landmark and its top roadway was once shared with a tramway line. The metro will have exclusive use of the upper deck, however; and a new roadway bridge was built upriver to mitigate the loss of the upper level roadway on the Dom Luis bridge. When visiting, be sure to walk across the lower level from Porto to Vila Nova de Gaia, and try the often free samples of Port wines in the lodges along the riverfront.

In addition to the new Metro, Porto has two heritage tram routes, the remnants of a once extensive tram system. Both of the heritage lines run along the Douro River waterfront. Line 1E runs from the Infante neighborhood near the S. Francisco Church to Cantareira, passing the Tram Museum and depot at Massarelos and the Port Wine Museum along the way. (The bus line #1 is a longer version of the #1E "electrico".) Line 18 makes only four stops from Massarelos up the long hill of the Rua do Restauração. Service on both lines is half-hourly from approx. 10:00 am to 10:00 pm daily.

Photo Gallery

Five Random Images
Image 64765 (304k, 705x1043) Photo by: Thierry Leleu Location: Ponte Dom Luis I	Image 64770 (220k, 705x1043) Photo by: Thierry Leleu Location: Jardim do Morro	Image 65019 (270k, 1044x705) Photo by: Thierry Leleu Location: Massarelos	Image 65027 (206k, 705x1043) Photo by: Thierry Leleu Location: Largo do Carmo	Image 65577 (199k, 705x1043) Photo by: Thierry Leleu