A Metro Train Travels the Whole of Porto's Pink Line for the First Time, Months Before Passengers Can Board

A Porto metro train travelled the full length of the new Pink Line on Tuesday morning, 6 October, the first time a vehicle has run the whole route. Metro do Porto, the state-owned company that runs the city's light rail network, said in a statement published on 7 October that Eurotram MP011 entered the line just north of Casa da Música station a few minutes after 9am and ran the roughly three kilometres to São Bento, passing through the two new intermediate stations at Galiza and Hospital Santo António.

The company called it a historic milestone towards opening the line to passengers, which it expects at the end of the first quarter of 2027.

What the trains are testing

The first runs are clearance tests, known in Portuguese as "gabarit" trials. According to Metro do Porto, they are done at low speed and check that the trains fit the space inside the new infrastructure, so that they can run safely along the whole route without touching structures, installed equipment or other vehicles.

The company set out the sequence that follows:

• Clearance tests: under way since 6 October and due to continue until the end of next week.
• Newer trains: besides the Eurotrams, some of the CT units, the last 18 vehicles delivered to Metro do Porto, will be tested on the line soon.
• Running trials: once clearance is complete, what the company calls an exhaustive set of running tests for every vehicle that will serve the line, and for all of its drivers.
• Approvals: a large body of further work and certifications before commercial opening, which the company says will come "within a few months".

Reports by ECO and Observador confirmed the Tuesday date. Observador noted that the Eurotrams, the oldest trains in the fleet, have drawn repeated passenger complaints over failing air conditioning, something our Porto Brief reported in August.

Where the Pink Line goes

The Pink Line, Line G on the network map, is the first Metro do Porto line whose route lies entirely inside the city of Porto, the company says. Its project fact sheet describes a 3 km line, 2.45 km of it in operation, running wholly in tunnel on double track, with four underground stations. Two of them are new stations next to the existing São Bento and Casa da Música stops, which is why the company's statement refers to them as "Casa da Música (II)" and "São Bento (II)".

Those two ends are where riders will change lines. On the company's current network map, which still marks Line G as under construction, Casa da Música sits on the shared trunk used by Lines A, B, C, E and F, and São Bento is on the Yellow Line (D), which crosses the Douro to Vila Nova de Gaia. The fact sheet says the line will link São Bento with the Rotunda da Boavista roundabout and improve access to central areas with offices, homes and health services, and forecasts more than 30 million extra passenger kilometres in its first full year.

Years late and over budget

The line is opening well behind its original plan. Works began in 2021, and ECO reported that opening had at one point been planned for 2024 before being pushed back repeatedly. The fact sheet, from the line's funding application under POSEUR (the Operational Programme for Sustainability and Efficient Use of Resources), gave 31 December 2023 as the project's completion date. In January, Metro do Porto chairman Emídio Gomes said the line would be running by March 2027, according to ECO.

The money has moved too. The fact sheet lists a total cost of 332.7 million euros, with 93.0 million euros from the EU Cohesion Fund and 239.7 million euros of national public money from the Fundo Ambiental (Environmental Fund) and the state budget. Observador reported that the construction contract was awarded for almost 190 million euros, and both ECO and Observador put the final overall cost, including additional works, at about 420 million euros.

The works have also left a dispute: as we reported on 30 September, Time Out Market Porto, beside São Bento, is suing Metro do Porto for 615,000 euros over the works.

What riders know, and what they do not

• Opening date: Metro do Porto still gives only the end of the first quarter of 2027, with no exact day.
• Fares and tickets: neither the company's statement nor any official page we could find says how the line will be priced or which Andante ticket zones apply. Until Metro do Porto publishes that, do not assume a ticket that works today will cover a given trip.
• Frequency and hours: no timetable has been published.
• Which trains: both Eurotrams and the newer CT trains are being tested, but the company has not said which will run the passenger service.
• Who will run it: the government launched a tender in July for a new operating concession that includes the Pink and Ruby lines, as we reported at the time.

For now, the next milestone to watch is the end of the clearance tests next week. Only after the driving trials and certifications will Metro do Porto be in a position to name an opening day, and we will report it when the company does.