Porto's Metro Gets 421 Million Euros for New Lines to Gondomar and Trofa, With Works Running From 2027 to 2031

The Porto Metro's next two lines now have money attached to them. At its weekly meeting on Thursday, the Conselho de Ministros (Council of Ministers) approved about 421 million euros for a light-rail line from the Estádio do Dragão to Gondomar and a combined metro and metrobus line from Maia to Trofa, with construction to run from next year until 2031.

António Leitão Amaro, the Minister of the Presidency, announced the decision at the briefing that follows the meeting. "Between these two measures, there are around 420 million euros in the Porto Metropolitan Area to expand the Metro do Porto," he said, so that the people who live there "can have this public transport solution, comfortable and serving a very significant population", according to Lusa.

Two lines, eighteen stations

The larger share goes to Gondomar: 237 million euros for a line of about seven kilometres with nine stations, running from the Estádio do Dragão to Souto in the centre of Gondomar, according to ECO. The environmental study for this line, which went to public consultation in August, put the cost at about 225 million euros and found that 394 to 533 trees and 24 buildings stand in its path, depending on which route is chosen.

The Trofa line gets 184 million euros for roughly 10 kilometres across the municipalities of Maia and Trofa, with another nine stations, between ISMAI (the Universidade da Maia stop) and Paradela, at the Trofa transport interchange. It is two systems in one. From ISMAI to Muro it will run as light metro; from Muro to Trofa the service switches to electric buses in a dedicated lane, the Bus Rapid Transit model Portugal calls metrobus. Most of the route follows the corridor of the old Guimarães railway line. That project is in public consultation until 12 October.

The Lusa report of the briefing gives the Gondomar figure as 287 million euros. ECO's account gives 237 million, and it is the one that agrees with both the minister's own total of around 420 million and the 421 million reported by ECO (237 plus 184). This article uses 237 million until the government's communiqué, not yet published on Thursday evening, settles it.

Who pays

The Environment and Energy Minister, Maria da Graça Carvalho, said the money will come "in large part" from the Fundo Ambiental (Environmental Fund) and the rest from Sustentável 2030, the programme that channels the EU's Cohesion Fund. The Fundo Ambiental is fed by the carbon tax, and she used the announcement to explain where it goes. "Unfortunately, in Portugal, it is still the transport sector that has the most CO2 emissions," she said, and that is where "more than half of the Fundo Ambiental, which is around 1,000 million euros a year, is applied".

Coimbra's metrobus gets more too

The same meeting raised the ceiling for the Sistema de Mobilidade do Mondego (Mondego Mobility System), the metrobus that runs along the old Lousã railway branch into Coimbra, to a maximum of 66 million euros. Leitão Amaro said the extra money covers maintenance and five more vehicles, taking the fleet from 35 to 40 "to increase the service and the capacity to serve passengers". Coimbra redrew 26 of its bus lines this month as the metrobus reached Praça da República.

What approval does and does not mean

Thursday's decision authorises the spending. It does not start construction. Both lines still depend on the outcome of their environmental assessments, and then on contracts for the works. The Gondomar route, in particular, still has two alternatives on the table, and the choice between them decides how many trees, including the 89 cork oaks counted in its study, come down.

The operating side is moving in parallel. In July the government launched the tender for the next operator of the Porto network, whose current contract ends in March 2027, and left the door open to Gondomar and Trofa being added to it. For residents along the Gondomar route and in Trofa, who have waited years for these lines, Thursday gives a budget and an end date of 2031. The first spade in the ground is still to be scheduled.