The Portuguese and Spanish governments have agreed to open the first direct Lisbon-Madrid train line with a high-speed service to start by 2034, officials said Thursday.
The rail link would be ready by 2030 and would start with a five-hour service, according to Portugal’s infrastructure ministry.
The travel time would be cut to three hours when the high-speed trains are put into service four years later.
There are currently no train services between the Spanish and Portuguese capitals, though there are about 40 flights each day taking about one hour to cover the 600 kilometres (375 miles).
The accord for the line was made by the two governments with the European Commission.
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“This project is more than just a railway connection — it represents a step towards the future of sustainable mobility and European cohesion,” said Portugal’s Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz.
The two countries have also agreed to finish a study by 2027 on whether to bring their rail gauge in line with the European standard of 143.5 centimetres (56.5 inches). Most track in the Iberian peninsula has a gauge of 166.8 cm.
If a change is agreed, a “coordinated” plan would be proposed by the governments, said an infrastructure ministry statement.
It currently takes more than nine hours to travel by train from Madrid to Lisbon, with rail links between Spain and Portugal called “the worst in decades”.
Most countries in Western Europe have many rail connections between them, including several high-speed ones, but the rail links between Spain and Portugal are severely lacking.
In fact, Madrid and Lisbon are the only two European capitals that are not linked by high-speed networks.
There is currently no direct route between the two cities, a situation that hasn’t changed since the early days of the pandemic in 2020 when Spain’s Renfe decided to get rid of the sleeper train between Madrid and Lisbon.
That means that you now need to change trains at least twice if not three or four times. The fastest train takes around nine hours and of these, there are three per day.
By contrast, it takes seven hours by bus to go from Madrid to Lisbon, or six hours by car.
Other rail connections between the neighbouring countries are no better. For example, if you want to get from the coasts of Andalusia to the Algarve via public transport, you have to take a bus as there aren’t any trains.
The only two existing direct connections between both nations are between Vigo and Porto, and Badajoz and Entroncamento.
In 2022, El País newspaper even ran an article saying that rail connection between Madrid and Lisbon were worse than in 1881.
With additional reporting by Esme Fox.
