The upgrade of the railway line between Évora and Elvas, in southern Portugal, is one of the main ongoing projects to increase rail connectivity from the port of Sines. The rails are finally being delivered, by rail, from the port of Lisbon to Casa Branca. The new Évora-Elvas section will be a key piece of the Atlantic Corridor since it is part of the line connecting the Lusitan port of Sines with Badajoz, in southeastern Spain.

The transport of the rails is being carried out by Portuguese railway company MEDWAY, a subsidiary of transport giant MSC. As the company pointed out on LinkedIn, the rails have been delivered to the port of Lisbon from Italy. In total, 752 rails, each 108 metres long, will be transported to Casa Branca by a 12-wagon convoy which can transport up to 72 pieces per trip.

The Évora-Elvas line

The project to upgrade this line was brought forwards by the Portuguese government in 2018. Back then, the country’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa defined the initiative as the “biggest new railway line work of the last 100 years”. This is because the new line will significantly reduce transit times between the port of Sines, the Portuguese most active port, with the Spanish border by around 200 kilometres. In total, the new railway line will stretch for 105 kilometres, 80 of which will be newly built. The investment revolves around 509 million euros. In addition to the new track, the station in Elvas will be upgraded to accommodate 750-metre freight trains and the installation of infrastructure for the implementation of ETCS.

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