The Campo Grande station will gain full accessibility with the installation of four elevators. The 12 existing escalators will also be modernized.
The Lisbon Metro started, this week, in Campo Grande station the modernization of the 12 flights of existing escalators and also the installation of four elevatorsto improve accessibility throughout the station. With a total investment of 2.9 million euros, the work is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The construction and installation of the elevators will allow access between the surface and the pier for people with reduced mobility, namely in wheelchairs. The Campo Grande station will, therefore, be equipped with full accessibility.
Currently, of the 56 stations in the Lisbon Metro network, only 43 are accessible to all people. Of the four lines, only the Red Line, completed in 1998, was equipped with full accessibility. Metro de Lisboa has been installing elevators in its stations, having, in 2022, completed works in Entrecampos and Cidade Universitária stations. It is now expected that, besides Campo Grande, the stations of Picoas and Campo Pequeno will be the next ones to be intervened. In this way, the current Yellow Line will become the second fully accessible Metro line.
In Campo Grande, the replacement of all mechanical/rolling ladders with more technologically modern and resistant components will be carried out in a phased mannerso as not to cause any inconvenience to those who wish to use the station. Metro passengers will also be guaranteed the operation of the existing mechanical stairs in the upward direction. The descent will be done through the lateral pedestrian stairs.
This intervention in Campo Grande is part of adaptation and modernization plan of the stations that Metro has been carrying out in the scope of the National Plan for the Promotion of Accessibilitywith the aim of achieving the principle of "Accessibility and Mobility for All". Within the scope of these, around 5.12 million euros have already been invested in the replacement of components and equipment in various stations.
The Lisbon Metro plans to have 52 stations with full accessibility by 2025 (the goal was once 54, having been revised downwards). This number does not include the new stations in the expansion plan, which will open to the public already equipped with all the necessary equipment and means of full accessibility - we are talking about Estrela and Santos stations, on the future Green Line circular, and Campolide/Amoreiras, Campo de Ourique, Infante Santo and Alcântara stations on the Red Line extension.
The remaining stations also have, in general, mechanical equipment such as stairs and escalators that provide good accessibility, although not full, as well as other systems for people with other disabilities, namely:
- Braille signage and help button on ticket vending machines;
- help button on the validation channels that allows direct contact with a company employee;
- audible and written message system in the stations and inside the trains;
- existence of removable ramps for electric wheelchair access to the trains, to shorten the existing unevenness between the pier and the train;
- existence in all stations of wider access channels, compatible with the passage of customers with reduced mobility as well as visually impaired people accompanied by guide dogs.
Metro modernizes three more escalators in Baixa-Chiado station
One of the stations that will not have full accessibility so soon will be Baixa-Chiado, since its depth makes it difficult and expensive to install elevators. However, Metro continues to invest in the modernization of the problematic escalators. In May, the third phase of this process began with the replacement of three more flights of stairs with more modern and resistant equipment.
The intervention is being done at the exit to Largo do Chiado, where passengers are guaranteed the use of mechanical stairs in the upward direction; the descent is done through the side pedestrian stairs. This work, which should be completed by the end of this year, is part of a global contract which includes the replacement of four mechanical stairs and the modernization of three more in this station, for a total of 1.47 million euros.
Disabled passengers can still access the station through the existing lift platform at the access to Rua do Crucifixo. To do so, they should request support through the help point that is located next to the handrail or through Metro de Lisboa employees present in the station.
