The Lisbon Metro is due to stop at Arroios again in September. The information was posted on Facebook by the Arroios Parish Council, following a visit by the President, Margarida Martins, to the works on Friday, June 18th. "During the visit to the site (...), representatives of the Metropolitano told us that the works are already at the completion stage, with the opening to the public scheduled for the end of next September."
Work on the Arroios Metro station began in the summer of 2017, with completion initially scheduled for the first part of 2019. However, complications with the first contractor, who failed to meet the stipulated deadlines, led to the termination of the contract and the opening of a new public tender, new tender and a new approval from the Court of Auditors, which led to a considerable slippage in deadlines. Work on the station was at a standstill between the second half of 2018 and the beginning of 2020.
If the Arroios station actually reopens in September, it will mean that the new deadline for completion will be met. The works at this Green Line station aim to extend the station's pier from 70 to 105 meters in order to receive six-car trainsThis will include the redesign of the atriums, including the reorganization of support spaces for operations and the introduction of elevators for access by people with reduced mobility.
"During the visit, it was also noted that the station's accessibility has been guaranteed, with two elevators providing access between the surface (street) and the boarding pier, and that a panel of tiles by Nikias Skapinakis has been inserted on one of the platforms and that the plastic interventions by Maria Keil, which have existed since the station was inaugurated in 1972, have been maintained.", adds the Arroios Parish Council, which says it has not been authorized to share images of the work in progress.
In August 2020, the Minister for the Environment, who oversees the Lisbon Metro, issued a challenge to the contractor responsible for the work: finish the work in time for the inauguration to take place on St. Anthony's Day 2021, June 13. "The people of Lisbon have been waiting a long time, and in Arroios they've been waiting even longer. Not only the shopkeepers in the square itself [do Chile], but all the people in the parishes"said João Pedro Matos Fernandes at the time, quoted by Jornal Económico.
