Speaking to journalists, Luís Nobre said that “Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP), the owner of the property, intended to use to a space that has been vacant for more than a decade”.

The mayor assured that the functions and services currently operating at the railway station “will not disappear, but will be transferred to another location”.

“The ticket office, the bar and other services will remain. It couldn't be otherwise. Nobody was going to make an investment of €90 million in the modernisation of the Minho Line and then jeopardise the investment”, he maintained.

According to Luís Nobre, the businessman, who already has a hotel in the city, “proposed to IP the transformation of the building into a hotel and later the municipality was informed of the project”.

“The municipality agrees. It makes sense to repurpose the historic property, as long as the station's current functions are not impaired. Basically, it is an appreciation of a building that will have a dynamic function, not only as a hotel, but also in the synergies it will create and in the revitalisation of the entire surroundings”, he specified.

The mayor added that “the municipality has been monitoring the licensing process, together with the Regional Directorate of Culture of the North (DRCN)”.

Asked about the amount of investment, Luís Nobre said he did not know, adding only that the new hotel “will always have to have more than 40 rooms, otherwise it will not be sustainable”.