Douro railway line

Last updated March 25, 2019

The Douro line (in Portuguese: Linha do Douro) is a railway in northern Portugal. For much of its route the line runs close to the Douro River, offering very scenic views of the river and valley. Trains on the line are operated by Comboios de Portugal (CP).

Portuguese is a Western Romance language originating in the Iberian Peninsula. It is the sole official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Angola, and São Tomé and Príncipe. It also has co-official language status in East Timor, Equatorial Guinea and Macau in China. As the result of expansion during colonial times, a cultural presence of Portuguese and Portuguese creole speakers are also found in Goa, Daman and Diu in India; in Batticaloa on the east coast of Sri Lanka; in the Indonesian island of Flores; in the Malacca state of Malaysia; and the ABC islands in the Caribbean where Papiamento is spoken, while Cape Verdean Creole is the most widely spoken Portuguese-based Creole. Reintegrationists maintain that Galician is not a separate language, but a dialect of Portuguese. A Portuguese-speaking person or nation is referred to as "Lusophone" (Lusófono).

Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country located mostly on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost sovereign state of mainland Europe. It is bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by Spain. Its territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments.

CP — Comboios de Portugal, EPE is a state-owned company which operates passenger trains in Portugal. Before June 2009, CP stood for Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses although the company has been using its current designation as a brand name since 2004.

Construction

Section between stations	Distance	Date of opening
Ermesinde – Penafiel	30.311 km	29 July 1875
Penafiel – Caíde	07.328 km	20 December 1875
Caíde – Juncal	18.818 km	15 September 1878
Juncal – Peso da Régua	38.371 km	15 July 1879
Peso da Régua – Ferrão	15.813 km	4 April 1880
Ferrão – Pinhão	07.611 km	1 June 1880
Pinhão – Tua	12.993 km	1 September 1883
Tua – Pocinho	31.678 km	10 January 1887
Pocinho – Côa	09.061 km	5 May 1887
Côa – Barca D’Alva - Spanish border	18.882 km	9 December 1887

Route

From west to east, the line runs from the junction at Ermesinde to Pocinho. The line formerly continued east for a further 28 kilometres to the Spanish border. Until 1984, the track continued onwards into Spain, thus allowing through trains to/from Salamanca.

Pocinho is a village in northern Portugal, located in the Vila Nova de Foz Côa Municipality. The Pocinho Dam and the River Douro are nearby.

Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain, is a country mostly located in Europe. Its continental European territory is situated on the Iberian Peninsula. Its territory also includes two archipelagoes: the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The African enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera make Spain the only European country to have a physical border with an African country (Morocco). Several small islands in the Alboran Sea are also part of Spanish territory. The country's mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north and northeast by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean.

Salamanca is a city in western Spain that is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the community of Castile and León. The city lies on several hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. With a metropolitan population of 228,881 in 2012 according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), Salamanca is the second most populated urban area in Castile and León, after Valladolid (414,000), and ahead of León (187,000) and Burgos (176,000).

Passenger trains normally run from São Bento station in Porto to Pocinho, with some not running as far as the eastern terminus. The line is built to the Iberian gauge of 1,668 mm (5 ft 5 ²¹⁄₃₂ in). The line is single track, apart from a double track section between Ermesinde and Valongo (the authorisation for the dualling work was given by CP in 1993).^[1]

Porto is the second-largest city in Portugal after Lisbon and one of the major urban areas of the Iberian Peninsula. The city proper has a population of 287,591 and the metropolitan area of Porto, which extends beyond the administrative limits of the city, has a population of 2.3 million (2011) in an area of 2,395 km² (925 sq mi), making it the second-largest urban area in Portugal. It is recognized as a gamma-level global city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group, the only Portuguese city besides Lisbon to be recognised as a global city.

In 1984, the Spanish rail operator RENFE announced the closure of its connecting line from La Fuente de San Esteban to the Portuguese border. With the loss of international traffic, CP had to close its line east of Barca d'Alva to Spain. The service was cut back to Pocinho in 1988, which has since remained the eastern terminus of the Douro line.^[2]

La Fuente de San Esteban is a village and large municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon. It is located 54 kilometres (34 mi) from the provincial capital city of Salamanca and has a population of 1,358 people.

Branch lines

There were formerly five metre gauge branch lines connecting with the Douro line, but the last of these closed in 2009. Geographically, from west to east they were:

The Penafiel to Lixa and Entre-os-Rios lines, which closed in the 1920s after less than 20 years of service
The Tâmega line, which closed in 2009 and ran north from a junction with Douro line at Livração
The Corgo line, which closed in 2009 and ran north from a junction with Douro line at Regua
The Tua line, which closed in 2008 and ran north from a junction with Douro line at Tua
The Sabor line, which closed in 1988 and ran north-east from a junction with Douro line at Pocinho

The Tâmega line(Linha do Tâmega) was a 1,000 mmmetre gauge railway line in northern Portugal. It closely followed the course of the Tâmega River. It closed in 2009.

Related Research Articles

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Ermesinde is a civil parish in the municipality (concelho) of Valongo, in continental Portugal, 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) northeast of Porto. The population in 2011 was 105,897, in an area of 7.65 km². It is the smallest by area, and the densest by population.

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The history of rail transport in Portugal dates from 28 October 1856, when Portugal's first railway line was opened between Lisbon and Carregado: the Companhia dos Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses.

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The Barca d'Alva–La Fuente de San Esteban railway is a closed Iberian gauge line which connected Barca d'Alva on the Linha do Douro, in northeastern Portugal, to the Spanish railway network. Passenger and cargo trains ran from Porto to Salamanca until its closure in 1985.

Infraestruturas de Portugal, S.A. (IP) is a state-owned company which resulted from the merger of Rede Ferroviária Nacional (REFER) and Estradas de Portugal (EP). It manages the Portuguese rail and road infrastructure.

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References

↑ "Cronologia: 1844/1874 - Desde o Projecto até ao Fim do 3º Quartel do Séc. XIX". CP (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on October 6, 2014.
↑ "História da linha do Douro". A linha do Douro (in Portuguese). September 1989.

External links

www.linhadodouro.net (in Portuguese)

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
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[1] "Cronologia: 1844/1874 - Desde o Projecto até ao Fim do 3º Quartel do Séc. XIX". CP (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on October 6, 2014.

[2] "História da linha do Douro". A linha do Douro (in Portuguese). September 1989.

v t e Railway lines ⁺ in Portugal
including trolleybuses, cable cars, and elevators • see also: Rolling stock of Portugal
IP iberian gauge networkᴮ^#:	Alentejo • Alfândega† • Alfarelos • Algarve • Aljustrel° • Barca d’Alva†‡ • Beira Alta • Beira Baixa • Belver Dam† • Braga • Cáceres† • Cascais • Cintura • Douro • Estádio† • Évora • Figueira da Foz† • Guimarães • Leixões • Leste • Louriçal • Lousã†‡ / Metro Mondego‡ • Maceira-Liz° • Maceda†° • Marginal do Douro‡† • Matinha • Minho • Montemor-o-Novo† • Montijo† • Mora† • Moura† • Neves-Corvo • Nogueirinha†° • Norte • Oeste • Pego° • Portalegre† • Porto de Aveiro • Porto de Viana‡ • Reguengos† • Rio Maior†‡ • São Roque†° • Seixal† • Serpa‡† • Siderurgia • Sines (L.ª) • Sines (R.)† • Sintra • Sorraia‡† • Sul • Tomar • Valença°^? • Vendas Novas • Viana-Doca†°^? • Vila Viçosa† concordâncias : Agualva • Águas de Moura • Bombel • Ermidas • Funcheira • Nine† • Norte Setil • Poceirão • São Gemil • Sete Rios • Tunes† • Verride • Xabregas
IP metre gauge networkᴮ^#:	Linha do Douro branch lines: Ave/Basto‡† • Côa‡† • Corgo† • Lamego‡† • Sabor† • Tâmega† • Tua†‡ / Metro de Mirandela° • T. do Minho‡† • Chacim‡† • Valpaços‡† • Vinhais‡† • Crestuma‡† Porto-Minho network: Alto Minho‡† • Braga-Chaves‡† • Braga-Guimarães‡† • Guimarães↑ • Lima‡†° • Matosinhos† • Póvoa e Famalicão↑ • S. Pedro da Cova‡† • Litoral do Minho‡† • Lanhoso‡† • T. do Minho‡† • Famalicão‡† • Cávado‡† Vouga/Viseu network: Aveiro • Aveiro-Mar† • Dão† • Vouga other: Chamusca‡† • Penafiel† • Avis‡† • Cacilhas‡† • P. Caxias†
Other heavy rail lines^#:	High speed lines:ⁱ Aveiro-Salamancaⁱ‡† • Évora-Faro-Huelvaⁱ‡† • Lisboa-Madridⁱ‡† • Lisboa-Portoⁱ‡† • Porto-Vigoⁱ‡† Isolated port railways: • Horta²†° • Lena¹⁶†° • Monges⁶†° • Pego do Altar⁶†° • Pejão⁶†° • Ponta Delgada²†° • Pomarão¹†° • Funchal¹†° • Aljustrel (mines)³†° • Alfeite† • S. P. Cova (mines)† • Leixões (port)† • Panasqueira† • Lousal†
Light rail (tourist lines, urban, industrial and military):	Lisbon Metroⁱ: Blue + Yellow + Green + Red • Porto Metroⁱ: A + B + C + D + E + F + G‡ Metro Transportes do Sulⁱ • Metro de Mirandela¹ • Metro Mondegoⁱ‡ • Metro de Faro‡ trams: Lisbon⁹ • Portoⁱ • Coimbra¹† • Braga⁹† • Sintra¹†† • Faro¹‡† trolleybuses: Amadora‡ • Braga† • Coimbra • Porto† beach railways: Caparica⁶ • Barril⁶ other mechanical non-electric systems: Larmanjat ⁴⁺† • Braga (steam)⁹↑ • Póvoa de Varzim (diesel)† • Mira (steam)† • Torres Novas (steam)† • Pinhal de Leiria (steam)† • Escola de Engenharia in Tancos† • P. Delgada a Furnas e R. Grande‡† • Palácio de Cristal† Horsecars: Aveiro† • Braçal† • Braga⁹↑ • Coimbra↑ • V. Real-Régua↑ • Elvas† • Figueira da Foz† • Funchal⁶† • Lisbon↑ • Portoⁱ↑ • Póvoa de Varzim↑ • S. Jacinto† • S. Pedro Muel† • Torreira† • Campo Entrincheirado de Lisboa† • Fort of Trafaria† • Fort of São Julião da Barra† • Polígono de Tancos† • Funchal - C. Lobos‡† • S. M. Porto† • F. da Pólvora† • C. Lezírias† • S. Vicente - Santana‡†
Funiculars : (cable-hauled)	Bica⁹ • Bom Jesusⁱ • Castelo Branco‡ • Freiras† • Glória⁹ • Guindais†† • Lavra⁹ • Nazaré • Ourém‡ • Santa Luzia†† • Sintra‡† • Tomar‡† • Viseu
Cable cars and rack railways: (incl. aerial lifts and people movers)	suspended: Achadas da Cruz • Aroeira‡† • Botânico • Cabo Girão • Cântaro • Covão • Expo • Fajã dos Padres • Funchal-Monte • Gaia • Garajau • Lagoa • Penha • Rocha do Navio • Sete Fontes‡ • Skiparque • Torre • Viriato • Zoo railbound: Estrela↑ • Graça↑ • Monte¹†‡ • S. J. Malta‡ • São Sebastião† • SATU†
Elevators :	Boca do Vento • Carpinteira-Jardim‡ • Castelo‡‡ • Chiado† • Goldra‡ • Mercado • Município† • Outeiro • Ribeira • Peneco • Santa Justa • Santo André
Key: track gauges: ²2140 mm • ᴮ 1668 mm • ⁱ 1435 mm • ¹ 1000 mm • ⁹900 mm • ³920 mm • ⁶ 600 mm • ⁴⁺ 200+200 mm ⁺names abbreviated whenever possible (source for IP's network: : page. 54) °heavy rail (^#) not managed by IP (and/or its predecessors) †closed (completely) • ‡planned • ††reopened • †‡reopening planned • ‡†cancelled project • ‡‡planned using former project • ↑replaced using former trackbed