The 46 new kilometers of railway line between Covilhã and GuardaThese lines, which went into operation at the beginning of May, connect the Beira Baixa line to the Beira Alta line, creating the first national rail ring - a kind of "circular line" that passes through Lisbon, Coimbra, Guarda, Covilhã, Castelo Branco and Abrantes. With the closure of the Beira Alta Line announced for works at the end of the year, for nine months, it won't be until 2023 that this Beiras rail ring can be truly used. CP already has some ideas.
One of them is the creation of a Intercity link between Lisbon and Porto that passes through the Beirasas reported by Dinheiro Vivo. It won't be the fastest Intercity between Portugal's two largest cities, but that's not the point. The idea is that this train, which could run every three hours, could pick up passengers in the Beiras area and take them directly to Lisbon or Porto, or vice versa. Although there are already direct connections between the capital and Guarda or Covilhã, to get to Invicta you have to change trains at Pampilhosa, Coimbra-B or Entroncamento stations.
CP plans to launch this service in mid-2023, after the Beira Alta Line has been modernized, taking advantage of the recovered 2600 locomotives and carriages ARCOThe latter were bought from Spain last year and have been modernized in CP's workshops. The operator also wants an Intercidades between Castelo Branco and Coimbra, avoiding the current transfer at Entroncamento.
For the time being, there are Intercity services, from Lisbon and passing through Coimbra, extended from Guarda to Covilhã, as well as Regional services between Guarda and Covilhã, with timetables combined with the Intercities that stop in these two cities.
