New interface of São João closes the station until December

Metro do Porto is starting the contract to renovate the intermodal hub of Hospital São João. This intervention at the northern end of the Yellow Line (D), an investment of around 3 million euros, involves the construction of a covered interface for the station and two Andante stores, one at the end of the line and the other at Pólo Universitário.

Immediately, the work forces the temporary closure of Hospital São João Station, until the end of the year. From the morning of Sunday, 29th of August, the Yellow Line will only have service up to IPO Station. Over the next four months, vehicles in circulation on this axis will alternately terminate, in the far North, at IPO Station (with a frequency of 12 minutes on weekdays) and at Pólo Universitário Station (with a frequency of 6 minutes). This is the operating model that will be maintained over the next four months, until the end of December.

Within the scope of this intervention, but only for short periods of the next weekend, the Yellow Line service at the southern terminus will be restricted, between 11pm on the 28th and 10am on the 29th, there will be no service at Santo Ovídio Station. The operation will be carried out, in Gaia, up to D. João II Station.

According to the company, the investment is supported by the Environmental Fund of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action, under the PEES (Program for Economic and Social Stabilization), and by the Porto City Council. The intervention, designed by Architect Adalberto Dias and resulting from the articulation with the municipality for the renovation of the intermodal hub of Hospital de S. João, has a period of six months.

Returning to the contract, the project conceived by Architect Adalberto Dias includes a new interface around Hospital São João Station, with an Andante Store and a cafeteria, better conditions for the connection between the Yellow Line and STCP buses, a space covered and comfortable for the customers, but also for the workers of the different transport operators, replacing temporary installations that had been installed there for a long time. At the University Center, the project includes a new Andante Store, also with a cafeteria, in the boulevard located between the accesses to the Metro Station and close to the main entrance to the I3S.

This is a project whose impact is not limited to the significant improvement in comfort conditions and the increase in intermodality in the Hospital and Pólo da Asprela area. The intervention will have relevant consequences for the entire length of the Yellow Line, whose regular operation may progressively increase from the current 11 to a future 16 vehicles per hour and direction. This increase of almost 50 percent shows a direct improvement in circulation frequencies along the route that links Hospital de S. João to Santo Ovídio (and later, with the contract to extend the line, also to Vila d'Este ). Known as “the line of lines” (since it represents more than a third of the network's total demand), the large North-South axis of Metro do Porto will gain greater capacity (to serve up to around 7 thousand customers/hour/direction) and better frequencies (up to 3 and a half minute intervals between vehicles).