While the controversial circular line moves forward, people are already thinking about the next steps in the expansion of the Lisbon Metro network. Extension of the Red Line, surface subway in Odivelas and Loures and extension until Benfica are three ideas that the company's managers have recovered or brought to the table in the last few days.
The idea of extending the Red Line to Alcântara is not at all new and was enrolled in the Resilience Recovery Plan (RRP) that the government submitted to Brussels at the end of last year, so that this extension can be financed with European money. It could cost 304 million Euros. According to a TVI news report from April 2020, the Red Line would gain four stations after São Sebastião: Amoreiras, Campo de Ourique, Infante Santo (here it can be connected to the future Estrela station) and, finally, Alcantara.
Enrolled in PPR is also surface subway between Odivelas and LouresThis 12.4-kilometer, 250-million-euro project is expected to be completed in 2010. According to the Minister of the Environment and Climate Action, João Matos Fernandes, in a parliamentary hearing, this investment - which counts on the involvement of Metro de Lisboa - is to be should be completed by 2025.
The future Odivelas and Loures surface metro will start from the Odivelas station of the Lisbon Metro, which is part of the Yellow Line and that, as soon as the circular line is completed, will have the other end at Telheiras. However, it may be extended to Benfica. "We are also developing what will possibly be the last subway extension from Telheiras to Benfica", referred to Vítor Domingues dos Santos, president of Metro de Lisboa, during the Portugal Railway Summit 2021 conference, which took place in the beginning of February.
Without giving more details, the responsible referred that the company will also "reconverting the 111 carriages we already have"process that will run in parallel with the acquisition of the new 42 carriages and with the alteration of the signaling, which will allow the trains to be brought closer together very safely and decrease the frequencies significantly.
The circular line, on the other hand, will create two new stations - one in Estrela and another in Santos - and connect Cais do Sodré to Rato, with most of the stations of the current Green and Yellow lines running with the color Green. Construction was scheduled to start in the first quarter of this year and is expected to be completed in late 2023/early 2024.
