15 years later, the Funicular da Graça is now a reality. This equipment, free for those with a Navegante pass, will make it easier to travel between the Martim Moniz area and Largo da Graça.
Getting to Largo da Graça has become easier. Now all you have to do is get off at the Martim Moniz Metro station, walk down the short Rua dos Cavaleiros and turn left onto the narrow Travessa do Terreirinho. You then reach Rua dos Lagares. Here, we can take the new Funicular da Graça, which is included in the pass Navigator and it will be free for everyone for the first two months.
120 years later, Graça once again has an elevator/funicular. It is not operated by Carris, as had been planned, but by EMEL. "We wanted to open the work as soon as possible and EMEL set out to do it as soon as possible"explained Carlos Moedas, Mayor of Lisbon, at the inauguration of this facility on Tuesday. "When we arrived in 2021, I told Filipe [Anacoreta Correia, Vice-President] that we had to move forward with this, that we had to finish this work. We have to do everything we can to get it finished. It's been at a standstill for so many years."
"This is a project that dates back to 2009. So, I would also like to thank all those who preceded him and all those who worked on this project. Municipal life is like that: the cycles are often short. We have to have the ability to finish things, to not leave things behind, to untie the knots."Moedas added, commenting on an idea, a project and a piece of work that ended up going through the mandates of António Costa and then Fernando Medina.
Construction of the Graça Funicular began in the summer of 2021, with completion scheduled for the end of 2022 and commissioning planned for the beginning of 2023. However, the work was only completed at the end of last summer, and the equipment has been waiting to be made available to the public ever since. The President of EMEL, Carlos Silva, explained this delay to journalists as follows "the pandemic and the war in Ukraine", which "impacted the supply of construction materials".
In fairness, however, this was the second delay in the construction of the Funicular. The work began for the first time in 2016, after having been presented in 2009 as part of the so-called Smooth and Assisted Accessibility Plan for Castle Hill. "Firstly, there was a complex structural delay due to the archaeological excavations, because we found an alambor of the Fernandina wall, which is under here, and so we needed to monitor this situation." This meant changing the project and relaunching the contract. Processes that take time.
A trip on the Funicular da Graça takes less than 5 minutes. The equipment goes up and down silently, in contrast to Carris' elevators and elevators, which have more than a century of history. The "capsule" or cabin has a panoramic window, allowing passengers to enjoy the city during the ascent or descent. Speaking of passengers, 14 people can travel at a time. If it's not full, conventional bicycles can be transported, but a folding bicycle or scooter is always easier. The trips are accompanied by an EMEL employee, who is responsible for handling the equipment and providing support.
The Funicular da Graça is available between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., every day of the week. Until the beginning of May, it will be free for everyone; in that month a tariff will come into force that has yet to be defined, "taking into account the benchmarking of what is already practiced in the city in similar facilities" (At the moment, in Carris elevators and elevators, a trip costs 4.10 euros, allowing you to go up and down). "There is also a funicular similar to this one in Porto, which also serves tourism very well. We also created this promotional period to give us a bit more time to plan these interventions"says Carlos Silva.
As for Carlos Moedas, "it's normal for tourists to pay, because they have to help the city". "You know that my vision of tourism is this: it's about combining interests. Those who come from abroad have more purchasing power, can pay and will pay. That's how it should be"He added, simplifying that, as is already the case with Carris' elevators and elevators, "For Lisbon residents and all those who have a Navegante pass, it will be free. So they can use it whenever they want".
The Funicular da Graça has the yellow of Carris, even though Carris pulled out of the project. This doesn't mean that the equipment can't be transferred to this company's portfolio in the future, as the Vice-President admitted in an interview with Público. For now, it belongs to EMEL. And it represents a new business area for the municipal mobility company. If EMEL already manages all the other equipment in the Smooth and Assisted Accessibility Plan for Castle Hill - namely the three elevators (Sé, Rua dos Fanqueiros and Chão do Loureiro) and the Saúde/Martim Moniz escalators - the Graça Funicular is the first to be paid for.
"This operation represents a challenge for us because, among the various business areas that EMEL has, this is a new area"Carlos Silva admitted to the media. "The work was carried out by EMEL and the subsequent management of the equipment was a decision taken recently by the City Council, taking into account the need to speed up the whole process. Nt didn't make much sense to have a project on this scale ready but closed to the public. EMEL was able to speed things up more easily than the City Council or Carris.“ For the President of EMEL, "we have here a good example of a project that serves mobility and the citizens of Lisbon, but also tourism".
The Graça Funicular allows you to reach Largo da Graça, more specifically the Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen Viewpoint, in front of the Graça Church. It runs on a single, dedicated track, consisting of rails and two stops, at the beginning and end of the route. The Funicular is accessible to all, including wheelchair users, and has a conventional elevator on the Graça side to overcome the access/exit staircase.
