Tag Archive for: metro

Underground

In Lisbon’s metro, you can find art under your feet

The construction of the Metropolitana de Lisboa started in August 1955. The initial line consisted of 6,5 kilometers and comprised 11 stations and two-carriage trains. Nowadays there are four Lines (Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red) with a total of 56 stations. It certainly isn’t a punishment to travel in Lisbon’s underground. Some stations will surprise you with their impressive architecture.

The Olaias station was inaugurated in 1998 to serve Expo’98 visitors. Situated between Alameda and Bela Vista the station is part of the Red Line. It is considered one of the most beautiful in the world. The architect Tomás Tavira designed an imposing station with high pillars in industrial style and many colors, both on the platform and throughout the route that passengers take to enter or exit the metro.

The Jardim Zoológico station, situated between Laranjeiras and Praça de Espanha, is part of the Blue Line and one of the first metro stations in the capital. It used to be called Sete Rios after the square under which it is located.
The artistic interventions are by Júlio Resende, who decorated the station with cave paintings referring to animals present in the Lisbon Zoo.

Another pioneering station on the blue line is Parque in the Parque Eduardo VII area and situated between the stations São Sebastião and Pombal.  After its inauguration in 1959, the station was completely remodeled in 1994 by Francoise Schein and Frederica Matta, who worked on the theme of the Portuguese Discoveries, using shades of blue painted tiles.

The Campo Grande station integrates two lines, the Yellow and the Green Line. It opened in 1993 and is the first station built on a viaduct. From there one can easily reach the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. The interventions on its walls were carried out by Eduardo Nery, who chose Portuguese tiles arranged unconventionally.

At present, the Metropolitano de Lisboa is expanding its network with an extension of the Red Line between São Sebastião and Alcântera and the construction of a new – Violet – Line between Odivelas and Loures.

The two kilometers long circle line connecting the Yellow Line to the Green Line and whose excavation was completed last month will include two new metro stations Estrela (Star) and Santos ( Saints). The names are promising. Let’s see whether these stations will be as beautifully decorated as the ones mentioned above.


Happy Easter                         Feliz Páscoa             (pic Ptnews/Público)















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Metro

The controversial plan to extend the Lisbon metro by constructing a circle line – joining the existing yellow and green ones – has finally moved forward thanks to a solid financial injection of € 83 million from the EU’s Cohesion Fund. Works – which will link Rato to Cais Sodré and São Sebastião to Campo Ourique, including new stations in Estrela and Santos – should move forward in phases up to 2024.


The Estrela station will be built at the top of the Calçada da Estrela, 54 meters below ground level and be twelve meters lower than the Ameixoeira station, currently Lisbon’s deepest metro station.


According to Brussels, the improved public transport service will not only reduce CO2 emissions with around 5000 tons per year but also contribute to the creation of employment, much needed at the time of the pandemic.

The € 215 million project nearly didn’t make it when Parliament supported at the beginning of this year a proposal by PAN (People, Animals and Nature party) to suspend the plan of the socialist government, as it wasn’t wide-ranging enough. PAN – backed by almost all opposition parties – wanted a much larger expansion, including outlying areas in the Lisbon Metropolis, like Loures, Sintra and Cascais.

Construction of the first leg of the Portuguese metro started 65 years ago, in August 1955. The initial line consisted of 6,5 kilometres, had 11 stations and two-carriage trains.
the Lisbon Metro currently consists of four lines and 56 stations.

Furthermore, this summer, the municipalities of Lisbon, Loures and Oeiras have jointly decided to construct a light rail along the Tagus river, linking Alcântera to Cruz Quebrada and Santa Apolónia to Sacavém. The estimated investment totals € 490 million. The new line will have a total length of 25 kilometres and will be connected to the existing riverside, tram and train lines to the west and the north of the capital.

Extension of the public transport facilities not only benefits the environment by reducing air pollution from cars but is supposed to lead as well to a reduction of the urban mortality rate in pedestrians. A study by the ETSC (European Transport Safety Council) showed that between 2010  and 2019 nearly 1400 pedestrians died on Portuguese streets, placing the country in an unwanted fifth place among 28 European states.

Stay healthy                          Fique saudável             (pic público/sapo)






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