Portugal starts Lisbon-Porto high-speed line as Spain's crash raises safety questions

For travellers, the finished line would cut Lisbon to Porto to one hour and 15 minutes. A Lisbon-Madrid trip would take about three hours by 2034.

For taxpayers and regulators, Spain offers the warning. Its fatal crash at Urda shows that signalling upgrades can trail construction by years. EU cash can also be tied to contracts rather than to working systems. Portugal has not said what the full line will cost or when the whole route will open. The contrast with Spain is stark. It shapes how the Portuguese project will be judged. On 28 October two high-speed trains collided at Urda in Toledo province.

Portugal starts the first section

Work started on the Porto-Campanhã to Oiã stretch in Aveiro district. That is 71 km of new high-speed railway.

The concession contract for the section was signed on 29 July 2025. It represents an investment of around €2 billion. The financing package includes €875 million from the European Investment Bank and €480 million from the Connecting Europe Facility. The section includes a new road and rail bridge over the River Douro and a new station at Vila Nova de Gaia-Santo Ovídio. It also covers the expansion and redesign of Porto-Campanhã Intermodal Station. The section is part of the Lisbon-Porto high-speed line.

Lisbon to Porto would take one hour and 15 minutes.

The government frames the project as part of its national airport strategy. It supports the new Lisbon airport and aims to strengthen rail links with Spain. The government aims for a three-hour Lisbon-Madrid trip by 2034. Miguel Pinto Luz, Portugal's Minister for Infrastructure and Housing, said: "Alongside the new Lisbon airport, high-speed rail lines represent the largest infrastructure projects the country will undertake this century".

Spain crash sharpens safety questions

The BBC's live coverage reported at least 68 killed. That figure differs from the provisional toll cited by Brussels Signal. Brussels Signal put the provisional toll at 69 dead and more than 200 injured, citing Spain's rail accident investigators. The crash involved a state-owned Renfe AVE train and an Iryo convoy. Both were on the Madrid-Seville line. Preliminary findings say the legacy LZB signalling system failed at 8.31am, 22 minutes before the crash. It was the second deadly crash on the line this year, after 46 people died near Adamuz in Córdoba province on 18 January.

EU money and the ERTMS gap

The corridor was supposed to run on ERTMS Level 2. That is the European Rail Traffic Management System. It was meant to replace German LZB equipment installed ahead of the 1992 Seville Expo.

Spanish transport minister Óscar Puente said physical installation of ERTMS Level 2 was completed in June 2026. It still needed testing and authorisation, he said. It would not be operational until early 2027. Puente rejected claims that Madrid had reported progress while passengers relied on legacy kit. "The European Union is not deceived, it is provided with certificates of completion of works," he said. The European Commission told Brussels Signal that funds earmarked for completion of the works have not yet cleared its assessment. Under Target 85 of Spain's recovery plan, Spain qualified for EU cash by proving it had legally awarded contracts for rail modernisation. The money was disbursed at the procurement stage. No new signalling had entered service.

In October 2021, Adif Alta Velocidad awarded a €93.8 million contract to Thales España to install ERTMS Level 2 on the Madrid-Seville line. The tender set a 52-month execution timeline. It expired in February 2026.

What happens next

Puente was due to appear in parliament on 3 November. The opposition People's Party demanded his departure. The corridor's new signalling will not be live until early 2027.

In Portugal, the first 71 km of the Lisbon-Porto line is now under construction. The government still targets a three-hour Lisbon-Madrid trip by 2034. Neither figure is a completion date for the full route.