"From a strategic point of view, Portugal decided a long time ago, and this is in the National Railway Plan, that there is an international corridor in the North and another in the South. Priority was given to the South, now pushed by airport issues", said Luís Almeida to Lusa, head of the association that defends the reactivation of the Douro line to Spain and also the new corridor for the high-speed line of Trás-os-Montes, connecting Porto to Spain.

Luís Almeida's statements were made regarding the Government's announcement, on Tuesday, to mandate Infraestruturas (IP) de Portugal to conclude the studies for the construction of the Third Tejo Crossing and the high-speed rail link Lisbon-Madrid.

The official added that "no one said that the North international corridor would no longer be built" and in this dossier he stressed that it is necessary to choose "whether it is the Trás-os-Montes line or the Aveiro-Viseu-Salamanca line".

And, in his opinion, strategically the Porto -- Vila Real -- Bragança -- Zamora connection is the best solution.

"Because it is the one that passes through the territories with the most economic dynamism, with the most population and that effectively serves the entire region and metropolitan area of Porto and the Port of Leixões", he argued.

And he continued: "I do not see that yesterday's decision (Tuesday) can in any way compromise this".

The announcement was made at a press conference, at the Prime Minister's official residence, in Lisbon, after an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers, where the construction of a new airport at the Alcochete Shooting Range was approved, which will be called Luís de Camões.

The Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, said that the Government is committed to starting the development studies for the Lisbon-Madrid high-speed rail line, with the aim of completing the work on the Portuguese side at the same time as Spain, which points to 2034, "in order to ensure a coordinated and timely execution of the project, fully optimizing the availability of financing", and recalled that the first section prepared for high-speed in Portugal, between Évora and Caia, should be completed in mid-2025.

"Now, in order not to encourage further economic or social imbalance, I think it is legitimate for the territories outside the metropolitan areas to demand, in some way, mechanisms that guarantee that the level of public investment is more or less the same throughout the country", he stressed.

And this, he added, "does not mean that airports or train lines will be built inland or everywhere".

"It means that there has to be a rationality of investments that guarantees that the territories all have the same opportunity to develop. In the specific case of Trás-os-Montes, these investments are very clear, it is the Trás-os-Montes line with a connection in Zamora and it is the Douro line, on a more local level, and its reopening to Salamanca", he defended.

Vale d'Ouro, based in Pinhão, municipality of Alijó, district of Vila Real, participated in the public consultation for the National Railway Plan, submitting a study for a new high-speed line between Porto--Vila Real--Bragança-Zamora, a proposal that foresees the connection to the Madrid-Galiza high-speed line about 40 kilometers from the border.

However, in December, it became known that this transmontana line was not included in the trans-European transport network (TEN-T).

Last week, the Association announced that it had asked the new Government for clarifications on the Trás-os-Montes high-speed rail line, after the European Union, in response to questions raised by Vale d'Ouro, classified this project as being of "common interest" for Portugal and Spain.

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