This Tuesday, June 8, Metro de Lisboa awarded a contract to equip the Entre Campos and Cidade Universitária stationson the current Yellow Line and future Green Linewith a new infrastructure of reduced mobility. The investment is around 2.6 million euros and the work will be carried out by the Grupo Domingos da Silva Teixeira, SA/Efacec consortium.
With an execution period of 180 days from the date of consignment, the intervention provides for the installation of three elevators per station to serve all the public areas of the stations (from the quays, to the ticket offices and on the surface); the elimination of architectural barriersThe adaptation of pedestrian stairwells to wheelchair-accessible ramps; and the adapting sanitary facilities for people with reduced mobility.
The work is part of a vast plan to adapt and modernize stations that Metro de Lisboa has been carrying out as part of the National Plan to Promote Accessibility, with a view to achieving the principle of "Accessibility and Mobility for All" established in Decree-Law 163/2006 of August 8. Currently, of the 56 stations on the Lisbon Metro network, 40 have full accessibility (71.4%). These are stations with elevators between the ticket hall and the surface, and between the hall and the piers, as well as escalators and/or moving walks, with people with reduced mobility in mind.
The other stations also generally have mechanical equipment (elevators, stairs and/or walkways) that provide good accessibility, although not full accessibility, as well as other systems for people with other disabilities:
- Braille signs and a help button on ticket vending machines;
- Help button on validation channels that allows direct contact with a company employee;
- Audio and written message system in stations and inside trains;
- There are removable ramps for electric wheelchairs to access the trains, to bridge the gap between the pier and the train;
- Wider access channels at all stations, compatible with the passage of customers with reduced mobility as well as visually impaired people accompanied by guide dogs;
- Existence of a platform lift in a station.
The Lisbon Metro plans to have 52 stations with full accessibility by 2025. This figure does not include the new stations that will open in the meantime as part of the network expansion, which will open to the public equipped with all the necessary equipment and means of full accessibility.
