A study of Infrastructures de Portugal (the Portuguese railway infrastructure manager) proposes to recover the connection with Spain by Barca d’Alva. The study proposes the line of Barca d’Alva as an alternative for the connection with Spain, whose border would link with the line La Fregeneda-Fuente de San Esteban, and there with the Salamanca-Fuentes de Oñoro.
The new rail link would require an investment of EUR 43 million euros on the Portuguese side and between EUR 87 or 119 million on the Spanish side, a final cost being estimated between EUR 130 or 162 million.
Investments in this alternative that could be financed with European funds under the Interreg program would be justified by tourism reasons and by facilitating the connection to the port of Leixões towards the Spanish market.
The report assesses the possibilities offered by this international connection of the Duero Line to link the Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport in Oporto, the passenger terminal in the port of Leixões and the Spanish high-speed network in Salamanca.
Regarding the freight transport, Infrastructures de Portugal values the potential of the corridor to deliver raw materials, such as the iron ore from Moncorvo, and Portuguese products to the port of Leixoes and to the industrial and logistic platforms of Castile and Leon, Asturias and Basque Country.
The study presents the connection as the best alternative for the departure to Spain and Europe of the port of Leixões, with a reduction of each round trip of about 220 kilometers, in front of the Beira Alta line, by Guarda, Vilar Formoso and Fuentes de Oñoro, and avoiding the overloaded section Ovar-Gaia, from the line of the North.
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