The line was closed from 4.45pm between Vala do Carregado, in Vila Franca de Xira, and Setil, in Cartaxo, after fires broke out in Azambuja and Cartaxo municipalities between 4pm to 4.17pm. Services resumed at 5.49pm, once the fires had been extinguished.

A company official told Lusa that trains were travelling more slowly than usual as precaution, in case the blazes flared up again.

Among services affected was an Alfa Pendular – the express train between Lisbon and Porto – which had to wait while fire-fighters worked.

The railroad movement in the Northern Line was interrupted in both directions, at 16:45, between Vala do Carregado (in the municipality of Vila Franca de Xira) and Setil (in the municipality of Cartaxo).