The decision, published this Monday, 19 January 2026, in the Official Gazette through Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 8/2026, gives IP the mandate to launch the public tender for the Public-Private Partnership (PPP2) intended for the design, construction, financing and maintenance of this section, authorising it to incur expenses related to this section.

The estimated total value of €4,765,379,097.59 at current prices will be divided over 30 years, from 2026 to 2056, with charges starting in July 2026. In net present value terms, the maximum authorised expenditure is €1,603 million, as of December 2023.

In addition, the Executive authorised an additional expenditure and the inherent multi-year charges in the maximum amount of 600 million euros. This funding is intended for projects, expropriations, construction site setup and supervision of works that are the subject of applications for community funds.

The resolution now approved revokes the July 2024 determination, following the annulment of the first tender for this section due to the exclusion of the only proposal submitted.

Currently, approximately €365.8 million has already been secured through the "Connecting Europe Facility for Transport 2" (CEF 2) program, to be allocated to PPP2. In addition, €234 million is planned to be allocated from other EU funding sources, namely through other applications to be submitted by IP.

Additional expenditure

In parallel, through another resolution also published in the Official Gazette, the Government also authorised IP to make an additional expenditure of €360 million for the first contract for the design, construction and maintenance of the signalling, telecommunications and safety systems related to the Porto–Lisbon high-speed rail line.

This funding is earmarked for “the installation of the S&T system on the Porto-Oiã section of the LAV, the partial replacement of the S&T system on the Northern Line, the installation of complementary safety systems on the Porto-Oiã section of the LAV, and also the full maintenance of the systems to be installed, with deadlines coinciding with the life cycles of the systems.”

The cost of these technological systems will be divided between the design and construction component, amounting to €268.5 million through 2031, and the maintenance component, budgeted at €91.5 million, with payments scheduled through 2051.

Using European funds

This investment will be secured through a combination of European funds totalling €65.9 million, capital allocations, and Infraestruturas de Portugal’s own revenue.

In December, the government had already approved the second phase of the tender for the Porto-Lisbon high-speed rail line between Oiã and Soure, maintaining the PPP value and authorising the tender for railway signalling.

At the time, in a press conference in Entroncamento, the Minister of Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz, stated that the decision, approved on 14 January, in the Council of Ministers, allows the second PPP (PPP2) to proceed, after the first tender was unsuccessful, without increasing the overall cost of the project, which is €1.6 billion.

According to the official, "the route has been optimised, with a reduction of approximately 11 kilometres in the initially planned extension to Soure," and technical adjustments that require the coordination of synergies between the different phases of the high-speed line.

Pinto Luz also said that the concession contract provides for five years of development, and the total investment in this section of the high-speed line will be €2.4 billion, comprising 60 kilometres of track, a tunnel, 25 bridges and viaducts, 18 connections to the conventional network and nine interventions on the North line.