Lisbon metro moment

Opinion article.

like former employee which participated in laying the extensions to Campo Grande, Cais do Sodré, Gare do Oriente, Telheiras, Amadora, Odivelas, Santa Apolónia, I am following with great interest and concern the current state of the Lisbon metro. I do not agree for technical reasons with the current expansion plan – without prejudice to the competence and professional pride of the colleagues who take part in it, because they have to comply with a plan decided by decree in 2009, in violation of the PROT AML (Organization of the Regional Scheme of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area) and without broad public discussion.

Since business disruptions are inevitable, it may seem disrespectful to hurt people on their future home business trips. – For example, the intervention next to the Cais do Sodré station should have been avoided due to the nature of the land and the complexity of the work, which makes it costly. Alternatively, people’s mobility could have been better ensured with the extension of the Red Line, not as now planned in Alcântara Terra, but To Alcântara Mar – connection via a bridge with the Cascais Line, eliminating the future and expensive connection of the Cascais Line to the Cintura Line.

But let’s move on to the everyday life of those who use the metro today.

1 – Disruptions in business

for every Safety reasons – to avoid that, in the event of a brake failure, the train would cause tension in the work area – It is justified that the trains that go to Campo Grande have only three carriages. The metro chief reported this before Six-car trains ran on the Green Line at intervals of about 4.5 minutes. The capacity shown, taking into account the capacity of 800 passengers (occupation of 4 people / m^two) and 60 / 4.5 = 13 trains per hour and direction, it will be 13 x 800 = 10 200 passengers/hour one way (No. of trains / hour = 60 minutes / interval between trains in minutes).

With the restrictions of the current works, which should continue until June 20 at the latest, with trains with three carriages with a capacity of 400 passengers, achieving an interval of approximately three and a half minutes, as promised by the President of the Republic. Metro, we’ll have 60 / 3.3 = 18 trains / hour and 18 x 400 = 7200 passengers/hour.

Since there are no shuttle buses between Alvalade station and Campo Grande, this wouldn’t be bad value, as long as the 3.5 minute interval is maintained (Signs allow you to go up to 2.5 minutes high, but this will require more personnel and rail cars). However, three-car trains cause long delays at stations because they fill up quickly. Therefore, two hypotheses can be tried:

1. A three-car train will stop at the even-numbered stations and the next three-car train will stop at the odd-numbered stations. This will increase commercial speed by reducing travel time, reducing the interval between trains to three minutes, and increasing line capacity (interval between trains = round trip length including station / (number of trains on line x speed)). For three minutes of interval we will have 20 trains/hour and a capacity of 8000 passengers/hour
2. A six-car train is interspersed between three-car trains – for example, three three-car trains are followed by a six-car train. Three-car trains will continue to Campo Grande, and the six-car train will make a turn at Alvalade, on the second track. This would make it possible to reduce downtime at stations, although the capacity in the Alvalade-Campo Grande section would be smaller (6,000 passengers/hour for three minutes) but greater between Cais do Sodré and Alvalade (10,000 passengers/hour for three). minutes apart).

2- The subject of the line is still in Laco

In a meeting with the Lumiere Parish Council at the beginning of May, Environment Minister Duarte Cordero reassured, presumably, according to a statement from the council, that The ring line option above the ring line has not been closed yet, leaving the guarantee that the work in progress will make it possible to choose either of the two solutions, which are still being evaluated. In a statement issued later, Duarte Cordero’s office said that the current works are aimed at constructing the ring line “without jeopardizing the possibility of other types of operations, such as the operation commonly referred to as ‘in a loop’ or a combination of these types of operations”of which one “The decision on the operating model, simple or combined, will be decided, in due course, by Metro de Lisboa, supported by the demand and operating studies that underlie it.”.

It’s surprising. This is something that must be clarified. The option of a ring or spiral line – as the old London Underground ring line became in 2009 – would dispense with the complex construction work and connect to pre-existing bridges in the new bridges. It is a resumption of the post of former Secretary of State José Mendez, who “guaranteed” that trains coming from the Odivelas Line could “enter” the Ring Line.

The information I have – which I repeat, and which is worth clarifying – is this Eight lane changers are installed on the existing bridges, with all the inconveniences of maintenance and passenger comfort, which would be left in the bypass mode of the new bridges., with the booms mechanically fixed by bolts (screws) and out of control of the signaling system (the final inclusion in the system will have additional costs). If this is the case, the trains will turn either on the ring line only or on the Odivelas line only, and it is necessary to go there to remove the therafundo and change the position of the booms because there is no command by the signaling system. It’s not a very orthodox situation, but I repeat, it will be confirmed or not confirmed.

3 – Violet line

On the purple line – not by metro, but by LRT (light rail transport). Decision makers let themselves be greatly influenced by the argument of low costs, ignoring the popular wisdom that cheap is expensive, and now they proudly announce the new line they call the light metro that will go from the Beatriz Angelo Hospital in Llores to the Infantado, passing through Odevillas.

I refrain from repeating the arguments which I have included in the general advice which will surely be ignored, but I note that the chief inconvenience of the tramway or “Tramway” is the low commercial speed to avoid the consequences of a particular accident and the permanent conflict with vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Our LRT experience south of Tagus. We can increase the speed with bridges, but they also find them very expensive. If we ignore the hourly rate for passengers (If you use public transport, Thatcher said, it’s because you lose) and count the hours lost compared to the real metro, then yes, the LRT is cheaper.

Except that, between Odivelas and Beatriz Ângelo Hospital, in a course of about 5 km, tunnels of about 3.5 km in length are planned, which is understandable given the terrain relief and the intensity of construction (you will consider resuming the TBM method, more profitable?). But then, why not extend the metro from Odivelas to the hospital, where a deterrent car park will be built for those coming from the Mafra, Malveira and A8 regions? A measure to contain the entry of cars in Lisbon would be much more effective than the proposed small ring line (out of curiosity, four Lisbon ring lines were placed inside the Madrid ring line).

5- The extension of the yellow line

The amazing curve after Praça São Francisco de Assis. Also with pride (and with the aim of silencing the protests of the residents of Teljeras and strengthening electoral support for the Benfica Council), it has been Announcing Telheiras’ proposed extension to Benfica.

It is a pity that decision-makers do not have minimal experience in operating or maintaining metro lines, and listen to those who do not. There are still metro technicians who can clarify this Tight curves cause corrosion of materials, wheels and rails, increase energy consumption (yes, the metro is responsible for the Ministry of Environment), travel time and inconvenience to passengers.. Linha Amarela expansion is an additional line of all knit in terms of time and energy savings.

Conclusion … It will be a bane of the origin of the metro, turning “Avenida da Liberdade line” into Avenida Almirante Reis. Then the red line, to go to the airport, also turned back. The purple line will make Odivelas a narrow U. And the yellow/green/circular line will switch from Rato to Cais do Sodré, instead of going to the fringes (read: towards Alcântara-Mar, as planned) to pick up people.

That’s what I was told Law No. 2/2020 – The State General Budget Law for the year 2020: Go to the western part, go to Loris. This was not what the government and Metro did, and still in 2020 the Board of Auditors gave its approval to the First Ring Line contract.

Some said that this law, specifically Article 282 of it, which was approved by the Assembly of the Republic, was not a law, but a recommendation; Others said he was a knight who made use of a law rejected by legal practice…or how different the ordinary functioning of institutions is in Portugal…forgive me Julio Dantas (“how different love is in Portugal”, a phrase from Cardinals dinner1902, by Giulio Dantas). But let’s wait, hope is hard to fade, Maybe PROT AML will be updatedand from municipal PMUS (Sustainable Mobility Plans) appear.