The noise of the works contrasts with the calm felt on Rua das Francesinhas, in the heart of Lisbon. The morning is sunny, despite the cool weather. Birds can be heard singing in the trees. It is known that there are works going on due to the signage, which indicates detours and parts of the street with closed traffic. After all, this is where one of the construction sites for the expansion of the Lisbon Metro Green Line, part of the future Circular Line, is located.
At the entrance to the construction site, guests gear up, preparing for the high point: the demolition of the tympanum that separated the future stations of Rato, Estrela and Santos – which will thus be interconnected. Dressed up, with boots, helmets and vests, safety instructions are heard and a quick briefing is given. Then the descent begins. Made using stairs, the warning sounds: “Only two people per landing”, to avoid instability of the structure. Down there, the atmosphere “is like a construction site”, warns one of the Metro engineers. Therefore, you need to be very careful.
Once the descent is complete, the delegation – which includes Jorge Delgado (Secretary of State for Mobility) and Vítor Domingues dos Santos (president of the Metro board of directors) – is led to the wall which, in a few minutes, will be destroyed, allowing the connection between the existing route (coming from the Estrela side).
The work is all done using a drilling machine. To DN, one of the workers explains that this is the strategy followed because, in Lisbon, the use of explosives is not allowed. “Even if it were faster, you cannot carry out controlled explosions inside the city. It’s all done with machines, although it’s slower than if explosions were made”, explains the worker.
Tags: Lisbon Metro Circular Line connection Completion scheduled
