“They won’t stop the tram”: Moreira throws himself at Metro, threatens to stop the Rubi Line and counts on the Pink Line on “Saint Never Day in the afternoon”

Popular wisdom says: those who wait, despair. And Rui Moreira seems to have lost patience with the delays in the construction of the Pink Line (G) and the metrobus. “We do not have an objective forecast of the end of the works and, at this moment, what they are proposing to us is to build the new Rubi Line (H). And they start right away by saying that they are going to stop the tram. Do not go. As long as I can, they won’t”, assured the mayor this Monday, during a public meeting of the municipal executive, in which he harshly criticized Metro do Porto.

“If the project [da Linha Rubi] was done assuming that the tram service could be interrupted, they made the project wrong. Change the project. As long as I’m mayor, I don’t care. I won’t allow it”confirmed Rui Moreira, in response to the question raised by Mariana Ferreira Macedo, PSD councilor, who wanted to know whether Metro do Porto has explained to the municipality what causes the delays in ongoing works.

“We will not accept the interruption of the electricity supply, whatever the consequence”, reinforced the independent, referring to the possibility of the construction of the Rubi Line – which will connect Casa da Música and Santo Ovídio – causing a constraint on the electric car service on Rua do Ouro, on the riverside promenade. “The work front must be licensed by the Porto City Council and interruptions cannot be caused on roads without authorization”, stressed Rui Moreira.

“We already have a huge problem. They placed an access shaft to the metro, exactly where the tram passes. They could have put it ten meters to the side and there would have been no problem. On top of that, the Pink Line is the work that is most delayed”, recalled the president of Porto City Council. “A [intervenção] on Rua Mouzinho da Silveira is more than two years late”, highlighted the mayor, for whom the completion of the new connection between Casa da Música and São Bento is nothing more than a distant mirage. “Does anyone know when it will be ready? The probability is that it will be on Saint Never’s Day in the afternoon.”shot.

The mayor’s distrust is even greater regarding Metro do Porto’s ability to complete the Rubi Line project by the end of 2026, so as not to waste the 435 million euros in funding from the PRR. “Does anyone believe that in 2026 we will have the Rubi Line ready? I doubt we will have the Pink Line ready, but Rubi won’t be sure”, said the president of the CMP.

Contacted by Expresso, Metro do Porto declined to comment on Rui Moreira’s statements.

The Ruby Line will have eight seasonsan extension of 6.3 kilometers and will require the construction of the Ferreirinha Bridge, a new crossing between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. It is estimated that this connection will serve 12.7 million users annually.

The Rubi Line contract was awarded to the consortium Alberto Couto Alves (ACA), FCC Construcción and Contratas y Ventas, for a value of 379.5 million euros.

The Porto Metro has six lines currently in operation, to which the Pink Line (already under construction) and the Rubi Line will be added. The metrobus between Boavista and Anémona, in Matosinhos, will also reinforce the transport network.

By 2030, four more new lines are planned: Trofa, Maia II, São Mamede and Gondomar II.