Tâmega line

Last updated March 23, 2019

The Tâmega line(Linha do Tâmega) was a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) metre gauge railway line in northern Portugal. It closely followed the course of the Tâmega River. It closed in 2009.

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.

History

The southern part of the line opened in 1909; it ran between Livração (the junction with the main Douro line) and Amarante in the District of Oporto, near the River Tâmega. The line was eventually opened as far north as Arco de Baúlhe in 1949, the last such extension to Portugal's narrow gauge railway network. Livração station was a junction with the main Douro Valley railway line; it is still served by CP's 1,668 mm (5 ft 5 ²¹⁄₃₂ in) Iberian gauge trains to and from Oporto.^[1]

Amarante is a municipality and municipal seat in the northern Portuguese district of Porto. The population in 2011 was 56,264, in an area of 301.33 square kilometres (116.34 sq mi). The city itself had a population of 11,261 in 2001. The city has been part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network under the category of City of Music since 2017.

Administratively, Portugal is de jure unitary and decentralized state. Nonetheless, operationally, it is highly centralized system with administrative divisions organized into three tiers. The State is organized under the principles of subsidiarity, local government autonomy, and democratic decentralization of the public service.

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 of section	Distance	Opened
Livração – Amarante	012.77 km	21 March 1909
Amarante - Chapa	008.43 km	22 Nov 1926
Chapa - Celorico de Basto	013.37 km	20 March 1932
Celorico de Basto - Arco de Baúlhe	017.16 km	15 Jan 1949

Train services were operated by Comboios de Portugal (CP); the three Série 9100 diesel railcars were built in 1949 by the Swedish company NOHAB specifically for use on the Tâmega line. They continued in service until 2002 (when replaced by Série 9500 units, purchased secondhand from Yugoslavia). CP Série 9020 diesel locomotives were also used on the line.

Série 9100 were a class of metre gauge diesel railcars built for use by the Portuguese Railways (CP) on the Tâmega line. Only three were built; they were constructed in Sweden by NOHAB in 1949. They were essentially a narrow gauge version of CP's larger Série 0100 railcars.

Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north and Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund, a strait at the Swedish-Danish border. At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the largest country in Northern Europe, the third-largest country in the European Union and the fifth largest country in Europe by area. Sweden has a total population of 10.2 million of which 2.4 million has a foreign background. It has a low population density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre (57/sq mi). The highest concentration is in the southern half of the country.

NOHAB was a manufacturing company based in the city of Trollhättan, Sweden.

Closure

The northern section of the line, between Amarante and Arco de Baúlhe, closed in 1990. Arco de Baúlhe station was served by trains for little over 40 years.

The remaining part of the line south of Amarante closed in 2009 - ostensibly due to the need for urgent repair work. The Strategic Transport Plan, published by the Portuguese Government in October 2011, showed that the Tâmega line required the highest level of subsidy (at €2.50 per passenger per kilometre) of any railway in Portugal and thus the line was listed for permanent closure.^[2] On 1 January 2012 the replacement bus service was also withdrawn.^[3]

Other narrow gauge railways in the Douro Valley

Corgo line - closed 2009
Sabor line - closed 1988
Tua line - closed 2008

The Sabor line(Linha do Sabor) was a 1,000 mmmetre gauge railway in north-east Portugal. It ran for nearly 106 km between Pocinho and Duas Igrejas, near Miranda do Douro. It closed in 1988.

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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).

The Série 9500 are a class of lightweight diesel railcars formerly used by Comboios de Portugal on the metre gauge railways in northern Portugal. They are also known as LRV2000.

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.

Ramal de Aveiro is a Portuguese metre gauge railway line operated by Comboios de Portugal. It connects Aveiro and Sernada, where it connects with Linha do Vouga.

References

↑ Portugal Narrow Gauge by J. Organ, Middleton Press, 2010, ISBN 978 1 906008 67 3
↑ The Portuguese Government's Strategic Transport Plan for 2011-2015 (in Portuguese)
↑ CP press release confirming the closure of the line

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[1] Portugal Narrow Gauge by J. Organ, Middleton Press, 2010, ISBN 978 1 906008 67 3

[2] The Portuguese Government's Strategic Transport Plan for 2011-2015 (in Portuguese)

[3] CP press release confirming the closure of the line

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† railway triangles : 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, urban, industrial and military lines):	Lisbon Metroⁱ: Blue + Yellow + Green + Red • Porto Metroⁱ: A + B + C + D + E + F + G‡ Metro Transportes do Sulⁱ • Metro de Mirandela†¹ • 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† • SATUOeiras†
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