The Santa Apolónia metro station, in Lisbon, will be closed for around six months due to the work on the Lisbon General Drainage Plan (PGDL), starting in January or February 2026.
“At this moment, the calculations are still being carried out by the National Civil Engineering Laboratory, they are not finalized, therefore, the work has not yet started, but we expect it to begin in January and February”, revealed this Thursday, December 4th, the president of Lisbon City Council.
Carlos Moedas was speaking after the ceremony that marked the beginning of excavation work on the ground, by the H2O tunneling machine, of the second PGDL tunnel, which will connect Beato to Chelas, over a length of one kilometer.
The mayor highlighted the importance of the work, asking for Lisbon residents’ understanding of the fact that the Lisbon Metro would be inoperative for around six months between the stations between Terreiro do Paço and Santa Apolónia.
“Right now, the work that will have to be done is being done in great detail by LNEC, it is a very delicate project, because it is a project in which the tunnel passes close to the metro tunnel. Obviously, during this work, the Santa Apolónia station to Terreiro do Paço will be closed”he explained.
The social democrat added that all mobility alternatives will be provided through public transport, such as Carris, “so that people can move around”.
“Now, We can’t put anyone in danger. We cannot, in such a delicate project, have the metro working. This would be impossible and, therefore, yes, the metro will be closed when the work begins”, he reiterated.
Despite the proximity of the CP – Comboios de Portugal station in Santa Apolónia, the train service will remain operational, according to Carlos Moedas.
Lisbon Drainage Plan is the “largest climate adaptation project in Europe”
The Lisbon mayor described Lisbon’s General Drainage Plan as the “largest climate adaptation project in Europe”, remembering that the city had been waiting for this undertaking for 20 years.
“It’s a very unique moment, because the city has been waiting for this work for 20 years. We started this work on December 4, 2023, in Campolide, with the first tunnel, which is almost five kilometers long and has already reached Santa Apolónia. And now the machine has left Santa Apolónia to build this new tunnel, which will be one kilometer between Chelas and Beato […]. It is the largest climate adaptation project in Europe”, he highlighted.
According to the Social Democrat, the “150 million euro” project serves to protect “Lisbon residents from floods and everything that has been, for years, a constant suffering in this city”.
The mayor also stressed the importance of the moment “to encourage” the men and women who work “in very difficult conditions: they are [três] eight-hour shifts inside the machine, drilling what are very important tunnels for the city”.
“They deserve our respect. I know it is a work that is invisible to people, but it is the most important work of the last 100 years in Lisbon to protect Lisbon residents and, therefore, here we are to honor those who work every day”, he highlighted.
Regarding completion deadlines, Carlos Moedas stated that, taking into account all the delays, “often typical in these works”, this tunnel is expected to be ready by April.
According to the mayor, at the same time the “delicate part of the work on the other tunnel will be carried out, which is the passage very close to the one that is the Metro tunnel, which will also take place in the first half of January”.
“The two works will be carried out at more or less the same time”, he stated, noting that “by August or September” the “last connection, the last connection for rainwater to reach the river” will be completed.
The intervention, which does not interfere with the Lisbon Metro, will be carried out “more quickly” than the other, he indicated, stressing that, if there are archaeological discoveries like what happened in the Santa Apolónia tunnel, it will have to stop.
“Every time there is a problem, there is a delay. All of this has been the life of a project like this”, he explained.
The ceremony, at Estaleiro do Beato, also included a mass in honor of Saint Bárbara, patron saint of miners, celebrated by the patriarch of Lisbon, Rui Valério.
The first PGDL tunnel, which connects Campolide to Santa Apolónia, began construction in December 2023 and was completed on July 22 of this year. Previously, already facing delays, it was expected that the second tunnel would be completed by the end of 2026.
The PGDL’s initial calendar estimated its completion, in full, in February 2025.
With a total investment of around 250 million euros, the PGDL – first announced in 2006, but which only progressed in 2015, with Fernando Medina (PS) as president of the municipality – is considered an important project to combat floods in the capital, but the major interventions, namely the construction of tunnels, only started in 2023 under the presidency of Carlos Moedas (PSD).
The work has included an investment of 79 million euros for 2025.
The two tunnels will capture water collected at two high points (Monsanto and Chelas), as well as at additional collection points along their route – namely Avenida da Liberdade, Rua de Santa Marta and Avenida Almirante Reis -, taking the volume of water to the receiving medium, the Tagus River (in Santa Apolónia and Beato), according to information on the PGDL website.