The strike of the workers of Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) led today, between 00:00 and 19:00, to the suppression of 894 trains of CP – Comboios de Portugal, almost 82% of the scheduled compositions, said the carrier.
The railway company had planned the circulation of 1,093 trains in this period. Of the minimum services planned, 203 trains, 199 were carried out.
In the long-distance service, only 10 out of 66 trains were run, and in the regional service, 54 out of 262 trains were run.
In the urban area of Lisbon, 81 out of 520 scheduled trains ran, and in Porto, 47 out of 217 scheduled trains ran.
In the urban areas of Coimbra, seven trains were made out of 28 estimated.
In a statement published today on its website, the Federation of Transport and Communications Unions (Fectrans) said that the strike of IP workers, which manages the rail and road networks, “is registering a strong adhesion, which is causing a huge disruption in the movement of passenger and freight trains and the suspension, today, of the numerous works taking place in the infrastructures, as well as the paralysis of the various activities of these companies”.
Fectrans recalled that “the workers are fighting for the negotiation of the mid-term increase, as happened in other public companies, and they demand, in the framework of the commitment made by the Minister of the Tutelage last May 08, that the review of professional careers begins, as is already happening in other companies”.
The Federation also said that the government “has given guidance to public companies, which have complied and where agreements have been made, only the IP Administration has not complied”.
In a statement issued this morning, the IP said that “it guaranteed the opening of the rail channel to carry all the trains defined as minimum services by the Arbitration Court (CES), in a decision that conditioned and limited rail traffic to approximately 25% of the daily rail traffic of the CP and Fertagus operators”.
In addition, IP “announces that it has registered a strike participation of 2.8% of the workers expected to work”.
