Yellow Line extension with 1.7 million customers in the first year

Vila d'Este is the most popular of the three new stations

The extension of the Porto Metro's Yellow Line (D), between Santo Ovídio and Vila d'Este, opened just over a year ago, on June 28, 2024. Since then, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of validations have been made at the network's three new stations: Manuel Leão, Hospital Santos Silva, and Vila d'Este. Connected by over three kilometers of track, an 800-meter tunnel, and a nearly 500-meter viaduct, which begins at Santo Ovídio and is already a true icon in the Vila Nova de Gaia landscape.

In total, in the first full year of operation, there were over 1.7 million validations made on this new route. Vila d'Este was the most popular station among Porto Metro customers, with 800,120 validations. Next comes Hospital Santos Silva Station, with over 600,000 passengers, and Manuel Leão Station, with over 323,000. Overall, the three new stations accounted for 5.7% of the Yellow Line's total passengers from July 2024 to June of this year, and for 1.9% of the network's overall trips during the same period.

Thanks to this project, several key centers in the Gaia region, in terms of education, healthcare, and housing, are now covered by the Metro, on a line that also provides a direct connection to Porto's city center and São João Hospital. The Soares dos Reis EB 2/3 school and the RTP production center in Monte da Virgem are located near Manuel Leão; Hospital Santos Silva Station is directly across from the Gaia-Espinho Hospital Center (the third largest in the North Region); and Vila d'Este is home to a large urban development with over 17,000 residents.

In addition to the three stations built, a Material and Workshop Park (PMO) was also constructed, available to the Porto Metro, complementing the existing one in Guifões. This new PMO has parking space for 60 vehicles and the capacity to perform all types of maintenance operations.

The Work in Figures

Extension of the Metro's Yellow Line, built as a double track, over a 3.1 km stretch, consisting of:

• Viaducts with a total length of approximately 500 m;

• Mining tunnel with a total length of approximately 800 m;

• 1 underground station in a circular shaft with a diameter of 43 m and a depth of 23 m (Manuel Leão Station);

• 2 aboveground stations (Hospital Santos Silva and Vila D'Este Stations);

• 1 Ventilation and Emergency Shaft (PVE), with a diameter of 12 m and a depth of 15 m;

• 1 Material Park and Workshops in Vila D'Este

Main Quantities

• Viaduct Steel Structure: 3,000 tons

• Excavation: 470,000 m3

• Backfill: 70,000 m3

• Nailing + Lining: 60 km

• Metal crankshafts (primary tunnel lining): 750 tons

• Piles: 6 km

• Concrete: 75,000 m3

• Steel rebar: 10,000 tons

• Track: 18 km

Companies and Workers

• Number of companies participating in the project: 250

• Average daily number of workers: 350

Dates and Investment

Start of construction: March 2021

Complete construction: June 2024

Overall investment: 206.4 million euros

Entities funding bodies: POSEUR (PT2020), Cohesion Fund (European Union) and State Budget.