Metro de Lisboa will carry out the "studies, surveys and other necessary ancillary works" for the extension of the Metro Sul do Tejo (MTS) to Costa da Caparica, passing through Trafaria, São João da Caparica, Quinta do Torrão and Quinta de Santo António.
By delegation of the State, Metro de Lisboa will carry out the "studies, surveys and other necessary ancillary work" to extension of the Metro Sul do Tejo (MTS) to Costa da Caparica. On the table will be the continuation of the current MTS Line 3, which ends today outside the Faculty of Science and Technology (FCT) of the New University of Lisbon.
The aim is to establish "a fast and structuring connection" to the Costa de Caparicathrough "a corridor that will serve Trafaria, São João da Caparica, Quinta do Torrão, Quinta de Santo António and Costa de Caparica“. This extension has a financial framework through the Climate Action and Sustainability Program (PACS), an envelope of 3.1 billion euros from the European Union, included in the package Portugal 2030to apply to various projects until 2027.
Metro Sul do Tejo is a light rail system consisting of three lines connecting the municipalities of Almada and Seixal. The first section, between Corroios train station and the center of Almada (Cova da Piedade), opened for service on May 1, 2007. At the end of that year, the connection to FCT was completed and, a year later, the Metro reached Cacilhas. The network is operated privately by MTS - Metro Transportes do Sul, a company belonging to the Barraqueiro Group, which won the concession for 30 years; it is due to end in 2037.
There has been no growth in the MTS network since it began operating in 2007/08. The second and third phases of the Metro Sul do Tejo, which consisted of an extension through the municipality of Seixal to the municipalities of Barreiro and Moita, never went ahead. On the other hand, the idea of taking the MTS to Costa da Caparica is also a plan more than a decade old.
The most recent study on the extension of the MTS dates from 2021 and presents various ideas for taking the Metro Sul do Tejo through the so-called "Arco Ribeirinho Sul", to Alcochete, passing through Montijo and also, of course, Barreiro and Moita. This study analyzed light rail solutions (LRT), but also BRT-based options (aka Metrobus). The work was chaired by João Abreu e Silva, a professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico, and brought together various entities and city councils, and also analyzed an extension to Costa da Caparica, from the current station University.
However, the route that Metro de Lisboa is now going to study should be different from the one that was studied and presented in 2021. At the time, it was planned to extend Line 3 of the MTS on double track from the FCT via national road 377-1, on the south side; before Quinta da Armadora, in Pêra de Cima, the route would head southwest, crossing a more rural area to the viaduct connecting the A33 to Trafaria, located near Pêra; from here, it would head west, approaching the IC20 and developing on the north side of this road until it entered Costa da Caparica.
Within the city, the line would become single track via Avenida 1º de Maio, Avenida General Humberto Delgado, Rua Parque de Campismo de Almada, Estrada Florestal, Avenida D. Sebastião and Avenida Dr. Aresta Branco, making a sort of ring road and returning to the IC20. The proposal now on the table is to take the MTS from the FCT towards Trafaria, taking it via São João da Caparica, Quinta do Torrão and Quinta de Santo António to the Costa de Caparica.
The choice of Metro de Lisboa to carry out a new study of the route of the MTS extension to Costa da Caparica was made through an ordinance in the final days of António Costa's government (a Ordinance 410/2024/2); this authorization is justified because Metro de Lisboa is a public entity that will therefore be able to safeguard the public interest. Furthermore, the Lisbon Metro is a "public business entity with relevant national and international experience" with regard to TCSP [Public Transport on Own Site] systems, and is even in the process of having its first light rail line, the Violet Line in Loures and Odivelas.
"Among the TCSP system projects in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, the extension of the light rail system from the south bank of the Tagus to the Costa de Caparica is a priority, promoting a fast and structuring connection between the University Campus of the Faculty of Science and Technology of Universidade Nova de Lisboa and the Costa de Caparica, extending in a corridor that will serve the population centers of Trafaria, São João de Caparica, Quinta do Torrão, Quinta de Santo António and Costa de Caparica, ensuring better connectivity of their territories and of these to the current Metro Sul do Tejo network."can be read in the aforementioned Order 410/2024/2.
Metro de Lisboa is authorized to make the corresponding expenditure, up to a total amount of 1.65 million euros for this study, until 2026. It should be noted that the Lisbon Metro is, in Luís Montenegro's new government, the responsibility of the Ministry of Infrastructure, led by the former mayor of Cascais, Miguel Pinto Luz.
In 2017, an order from António Costa's government set up a working group with "with the aim of promoting a study of a public transport corridor on its own site, complementing and connecting with the system in operation in phase 1 of the Metro Sul do Tejo" (Order no. 11382/2017). Chaired by João de Abreu e Silva, a professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico, this group included the city councils of Alcochete, Almada, Barreiro, Montijo, Moita and Seixal, as well as the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP), the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC) and the Institute for Mobility and Transport (IMT).
The work was completed in 2021 and analyzed options for Light Rail Transit (LRT), the same as the current solution, and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), based on electric buses in exclusive lanes. Two main possibilities were defined: a Scenario 1 with LRT on the planned extensions in Almada (Costa and Margueira) and on the extension to Alhos Vedros, in Moita, with BRT/Metrobus from this point to Alcochete, due to the lower population density; and a Scenario 2 LRT extensions in Almada and BRT from Corroios to Alcochete. It is estimated that the BRT could have a capacity of 150 seats, less than the 280 seats of the light rail. The investment would cost between 719 and 740 million euros in the first scenario and between 540 and 585 million in the second.
Although the original Metro Sul do Tejo project already included the expansion of the current system in the municipalities of Seixal and Barreiro, the creation of this working group was intended to study its expansion to the municipalities of Moita, Montijo and Alcochete, promoting a continuous connection between Almada and Alcochete, in the so-called "Arco Ribeirinho Sul".
You can consult all the documentation for the 2021 study here:
In addition to the MTS line to Costa da Caparica, Metro de Lisboa will be responsible for studying other TCSP projects in the Lisbon metropolitan area. On Tuesday, April 2, a collaboration protocol was signed between the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Transportes Metropolitanos de Lisboa (TML) and Metro de Lisboa for the "development of studies, planning and implementation of projects aimed at consolidating a Collective Transport network on its own site in the Lisbon metropolitan area"TML reported.
In this protocol, AML and TML "contribute to the development of planning and territorial connection studies and projects as well as framework studies and projects", while the Lisbon Metro "will contribute with the technical component of engineering studies and projects, namely light rail and rapid streetcar technology. This partnership will naturally involve the municipalities where each study or project will take place".
According to Carlos Humberto de Carvalho, First Secretary of AML, this is a "global, generic protocol" to work together to create TCSP solutions in the Lisbon metropolitan area. "Transport in its own place, which is a priority, and should be a priority for the country. We in the Metropolitan Area want to move forward, take some steps." There are solutions in this area that have been on the drawing board for decades, others that are more recent.
