Key Facts
- Client: Metro do Porto SA
- Balfour Beatty company involved: Balfour Beatty Rail Italy
- The Metro do Porto project was one of the first major transport projects ever to be undertaken in Portugal
- It is also one of the most significant light rail transit (LRT) systems implemented in Europe
- Starting in December 1998, the project had an estimated total investment of €1.25 billion
- The system comprises four surface and underground lines and is an effective solution to the traffic problems of a city like Porto, the second largest and most populated metropolitan area of the country
- Porto’s historical city centre is a UNESCO world heritage site and the project required a specific solution employing specially-designed tunnel-boring equipment
- Balfour Beatty, a member of the Normetro Consortium, was awarded the €310 million contract (total contract value to 2007) for the fixed installations and the supply of the electrical and mechanical sub-systems
- This comprised the design, supply, installation, test and commissioning of 60km of double track contact line (7km in a tunnel), 29 traction substations and 68 railway stations (13 underground)
- The system has a transport capacity of more than 20,000 people per hour in each direction
- The Metro do Porto combines an underground metro system in the centre of Porto, a surface tramway system in the municipalities of Gaia and Matosinhos and a suburban railway system to connect the towns located to the north of Porto
- The complete system came into service in March 2006, with the completion of the operation and maintenance period scheduled for March 2009
