PORTUGAL: The LusoLav consortium led by Mota-Engil has been selected to build the initial 71 km Porto – Oiã section of the Lisboa – Porto high speed corridor.
The winning consortium, members of which include Teixeira Duarte, Casais, Gabriel Couto, Alves Ribeiro, Conduril and Lineas, will now be responsible for the planning, design, financing, construction and maintenance of the line under a 30-year concession.
The government formally let the contract at a ceremony on October 10 following the conclusion of a tendering process launched in January with a deadline for offers at the end of July.
A grouping of Sacyr/Somague Concessões, NGE Concessions and Alberto Couto Alves also submitted an offer, but the Mota-Engil bid was the only one deemed to meet the tender submission criteria.
Three other consortia had been in the running but failed to meet the final deadline. These were Acciona/FCC/Ferrovial; a grouping of OHLA/Comsa/NGE/TSO; and a Axvi/Webuild/John Laing/Ascendi/Tecnovia/TIIC consortium. These groups all withdrew from the process because of concerns about the margins of the resulting concession contract. However, they remain interested in bidding for subsequent phases of the scheme.
Three stages
The Porto – Lisboa high speed corridor is to be built in three phases to link Porto Campanhã station with Lisboa Oriente, 290 km to the south. The double-track line will largely be built in a dedicated alignment using Iberia’s 1 668 mm gauge. The route is being designed for operation at up to 300 km/h.
Earlier this summer, the project was awarded €813·1m in funding from the European Union under the latest round of Connecting Europe Facility grant agreements.
The first phase covers the 143 km between Porto and Soure, with an expected total cost of around €3·7bn. This phase is divided into two parts, with the 71 km Porto – Oiã section estimated to cost €1·9bn and the 72 km between Aveiro and Soure valued €1·8bn.
The second phase covers the section from Soure to Carregado near Lisboa which has an estimated cost of €1·5bn and includes four-tracking of the existing route between Castanheira do Ribatejo and Alverca.
The final phase is the section from Carregado to Lisboa, where the estimated outlay will be €4·5bn. According to road and rail infrastructure manager Infraestruturas de Portugal, the Porto – Soure section is planned for completion by the end of 2028, and the Soure – Carregado section by 2030. This would give a journey time between Lisboa and Porto of 1 h 19 min.
The Porto – Oiã alignment will feature an underground station at Santo Ovídio that will be served by the Metro do Porto light rail network, as well as a 17 km chord from Aveiro to connect the new line with the existing north-south main line. In addition, a road and rail bridge is to be built across the Douro river between Porto and Gaia.
