The vice-president of the Barreiro City Council, Rui Braga, spoke with “enthusiasm” and “expectation” about the renovation of the city’s old railway station, considering that this will be the “best tourist calling card” without neglecting Barreiro’s “heritage.”
“We are very happy and very excited because we are talking about probably the best tourist calling card that the city will have, given the concept of the program which is, in every way, what was done at Lx Factory in Lisbon,” the councilor began by saying, highlighting that it was an objective of his Executive to “give new life” to the iconic station.
The recovery of the Barreiro-Mar railway station will bring a space never seen before in the city, which will have “a place to sleep, a hostel – with a very cool feature that will be made in carriages on the line -, an event space, a dining area – which will live inside the building itself -, co-working spaces, which are offices they call ateliers.”
The Executive revealed having a lot of “confidence” in the project, above all because it “respects the memory, history, and railway heritage” of the city. “It is unanimous among the community of architects that the building is a work of art, an architectural piece of great beauty,” emphasized Rui Braga.
What benefits does it bring to the city? “Investment can open Barreiro to Lisbon during the night”
The vice-president highlighted “the anchors and characteristics” of the project, whose investor is “winking at Lisbon.”
“It’s close to the train that comes from Setúbal and the station that is active. We will profit, we will have dynamics in our local economy, people from outside will come to spend money in our city. It will make us grow even more, I have no doubt. If there’s a project that has that capacity, this is one that screams it. The big investment can also open Barreiro to Lisbon during the night,” declared Rui Braga, revealing the city council’s ‘struggle’ to have a river connection between Barreiro and Terreiro do Paço during the night.
Between 1:00 AM and 6:00 AM, there is no river connection between Barreiro and Lisbon. For this reason, the councilor said that the goal is to “open boat trips so we don’t close Barreiro” and, in this sense, this could be “the argument to convince Soflusa that, at least every hour, there must be a connection” and the “renewal of the old station will be able to give muscle to this discourse.”
This project dates back to 2018. Only now, six years later, is it closer to being realized after a concession contract was signed between “Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) and a private promoter.”
“We regret that it took so long between IP deciding on the businessman who was presented to us in 2018 and only now having signed the contract,” observed Rui Braga.
What are the next steps?
After signing the concession contract, a “bureaucratic process” now follows. The company Mainside, responsible for the rehabilitation of the railway station, “has two months to present a final project to IP,” which will have to approve it “with an opinion from the Barreiro City Council.”
“Already discounting that something might go slower, I hope that in January/February of next year we will start to see machines on site. The expected opening? Summer of next year. If we could accomplish that, it would be something extraordinary and it’s possible,” he stated.
What does the company say? “There is still no estimated investment value”
The architect responsible for the work, Gonçalo Queirós Carvalho, was contacted in an attempt to ascertain what funding is intended for the work.
“Although this project started in 2018, and has been stopped for some time, we recently started the elaboration of the study. Unfortunately, we are still in a very preliminary phase and, first, we will have to analyze some of the intervention’s intentions with the licensing entities. There is still no estimated investment value. With the development of the project, we will have an idea of the values and how they can be financed,” stated Gonçalo Queirós Carvalho in response to the request for clarification.
Nevertheless, the company emphasized that the renovated Barreiro-Mar station, which operated between 1884
