Fertagus

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Logo of the Fertagus

Fertagus is a Portuguese transport company based in Almada , which is currently the only private transport company to operate train services in the Portuguese railway network alongside the state railway company CP , 21 million passengers use the blue and white trains in 2018, an average of around 85,000 passengers per day. In addition to the local trains, Fertagus, part of the Barraqueiro transport group, also operates numerous bus routes. The company name Fertagus is a suitcase word from the shortening of the Portuguese word for railway, caminhos-de-ferro , and the Latin name of the Tagus River , tagus .

history

Fertagus double-decker train at Corroios station
Interior of a Fertagus double-decker train
Fertagus double-decker train just before Fogueteiro station
Buses called SulFertagus take passengers to five different Fertagus stops

Liberalization of the rail market

After the Portuguese government decided in 1997 to curtail the functions of the Portuguese State Railways, numerous changes were necessary in the Portuguese railway system. From then on, the state railway CP only kept train operations, the government of the newly founded state operating company REFER (now Infraestruturas de Portugal ) transferred the rail network itself , the workshops and train maintenance was transferred to the EMEF , and the control and regulation function of the railway network transferred Government reforms the Instituto Nacional do Transporte Ferroviário (today Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes Terrestres ). In the course of this opening up of the railway network, it was now also possible for private transport companies to operate on the Portuguese railway network.

Invitation to tender from Eixo Norte / Sul

Between 1996 and 1999, the Portuguese Ministry of Transport had the April 25 Bridge extended with a rail deck in order to bring more commuters from the road to the rails. In 1998, the traffic on the so-called new Eixo Norte / Sul line , the new connection between Lisbon over the April 25th Bridge and the suburbs on the other side of the Tejo, was tendered for the first time. The tender for a 30-year transport contract was won by the newly founded company Fertagus , a subsidiary of the Lisbon transport company Barraqueiro , which took over the transport between Lisbon Entrecampos and Fogueteiro from July 30, 1999. While Fertagus pays fees to the state infrastructure operator REFER for the Lisbon train stations , it operates the train stations south of the Tejo itself, even if the Pragal train station is also served by CP trains.

In the first month of operation, 750,000 passengers use the trains. In 2000, Fertagus carried eleven million passengers a year.

Extension of traffic to Setúbal and Roma-Areeiro

From September 2003, Fertagus extended the train service in the Lisbon area by one station to the converted Lisbon Roma-Areeiro train station , giving the Fertagus suburban trains another option to transfer to the Lisbon metro . Since October 2004 the Fertagus trains have been running in the south via Pinhal Novo to the district capital Setúbal , before the connection between the railway line Eixo Norte / Sul and the Linha do Sado between Barreiro and Setúbal had been completed. The extension of the route to Setúbal led to a strong increase in passengers on the route to Lisbon, with two million additional passengers traveling on the private rail operator's trains in the first timetable year alone. However, since Fertagus did not have enough vehicles to run a continuous 15-minute cycle to Setúbal and the forecast passenger numbers do not justify this either, since then only every third train has run to Setúbal, the other trains end at Coina station beforehand .

In 2005, the concession contract with Fertagus was amended, the government subsequently shortened the transport contract to a total of 15 years with the possibility of an extension from 2019; For seven years, from 2004 to 2010, Fertagus will receive a total of 57.6 million euros as compensation, between 2010 and 2019 Fertagus will travel for its own account and without compensation. In return, the government contractually promised not to increase the train path fees. This amendment to the contract was made possible by a safeguard clause that allows a revision if fewer passengers than planned should travel on the trains. Since 30 percent fewer passengers took the trains than planned, this was the case.

Fertagus is the first and so far only private train operator in the Portuguese rail network, and for the first time a private transport company has to pay the state infrastructure operator Infraestruturas de Portugal direct fees for the use of the stations on the route between Lisbon and Setúbal Payments to 3.147 million euros, 2007 to 3.102 million euros. In the course of the financial crisis in Portugal, the government increased the train path fees by 55 percent, but Fertagus refuses to pay the increase due to the contractual agreement.

In some cases, Fertagus also operates shuttle buses in cooperation with TST , which connect the surrounding villages and towns with the train stations; these operate under the name SulFertagus .

In 2018, Fertagus carried around 21 million passengers, in 2017 it was 20 million passengers, in 2016 19 million passengers and in 2014 as well. According to its own information, the company has carried a total of 300 million passengers since the start of operations in 1999 and 2014.

future

Line extensions

For several years, the operator has been trying to rent double-decker trains of the 3500 series from the state-owned Comboios de Portugal in order to extend the regular service to Oriente station. The state railway company persistently refuses to do so, although the Fertagus vehicles currently in use are also state-owned.

In the medium term, in consultation with the Portuguese Ministry of Transport and the network operator, points are to be installed in the Corroios station so that deployment trains can be used between Corroios and Lisbon during rush hour. At the same time, instead of the previous double units (eight-car trains), only four-car trains will run to Setúbal.

The opposition party Partido Comunista Português (PCP) has been criticizing the private company's traffic on the important north-south route for several years. The prices for Fertagus journeys are much higher than those of the Portuguese state railway . For this reason, the PCP demands that the Fertagus concession be handed over to the state railway, that the route be included in the Lisbon social ticket, that the construction of the Valle de Flores train station be advanced and that the regular service be extended to the Gare de Oriente .

Third Tagus Bridge

In the future, the operator Fertagus also wanted to take over local transport on the third Tejo bridge to be built between Chelas and Barreiro. The bridge, which was to connect to the existing railway lines Linha de Cintura and Linha do Alentejo , was originally planned in such a way that it could accommodate both a standard-gauge high-speed line to Porto and Madrid, as well as a new local transport link between Lisbon and Setúbal. Fertagus calculated a journey time of seven minutes between the Barreiro and Entrecampos stations . Fertagus proposed, similar to the route over the Ponte 25 de Abril , to run every 20 minutes during rush hour and every 40 minutes during off- peak hours. This would have required a total of twelve new double-decker trains. In the meantime, the Portuguese government has put the construction of the new high-speed line and the third Tejo bridge on hold due to the dire budget situation.

vehicles

Announcement of a Fertagus train in Lisbon Entrecampos station. Translation into German: Attention, dear passengers, the suburban train from Roma / Areeiro to Coina will arrive at platform four. It stops at all train stations and stops. Thank you for your attention. When entering the train, pay attention to the distance between the doors and the platform.

Fertagus operates the route between Lisbon-Roma / Areeiro and Setúbal with 22 double- decker trains of the type X'TRAPOLIS Tagus or the 3500 series , which GEC Alstom manufactured in 1999 and 2000, each consisting of four cars. The modeled after the Spanish RENFE - 450 series railcars built, they are in four cars up to 1,256 passengers court (at 476 seats). The trains are also equipped with air conditioning and passenger information systems. While the trains were initially owned by Fertagus, they are now owned by the state, which in turn leases them to the operator for a monthly payment.

The trains stop at 14 stations and take 57 minutes for the entire route.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Uma linha quenos aproxima - Relatório e Contas 2018. (PDF) Fertagus, March 2019, accessed on May 15, 2019 (Portuguese).
  2. ↑ Corn comboios na Fertagus . In: Público . No. 3455 . Lisbon September 1, 1999, p. 33 (Portuguese).
  3. ↑ Lusa: Ponte Vasco da Gama / 10 anos: Passageiros aumentaram mais de metade nos TST e quase duplicaram na Fertagus. In: Expresso. March 28, 2008, accessed June 7, 2014 (Portuguese).
  4. ↑ above: Setúbal dá dois milhões de passageiros. (No longer available online.) In: Diário de Notícias. March 7, 2005, archived from the original on July 14, 2014 ; Retrieved June 7, 2014 (Portuguese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dn.pt
  5. ^ Leonor Matias: Estado paga 57.6 milhões à Fertagus até 2010. (No longer available online.) In: Diário de Notícias. March 7, 2005, archived from the original on July 14, 2014 ; Retrieved June 7, 2014 (Portuguese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dn.pt
  6. ^ A b Carlos Cipriano: Fertagus recusa pagar à Refer os 4,5 milhões de aumento da portagem ferroviária. In: Público. February 18, 2015, accessed February 23, 2015 (Portuguese).
  7. ↑ Lusa: Governo reduz período de Concessao since Fertagus. In: Público. January 27, 2005, accessed June 7, 2014 (Portuguese).
  8. ^ Leonor Matias: Estado obrigado a injectar capital no universo Refer. (No longer available online.) In: Diário de Notícias. August 3, 2008, archived from the original on February 23, 2015 ; Retrieved June 9, 2014 (Portuguese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dn.pt
  9. ↑ Relatório e Contas 2017. (PDF) Fertagus, 2018, accessed on May 15, 2019 (Portuguese).
  10. ↑ Relatório e Contas 2016. (PDF) Fertagus, 2017, accessed on May 15, 2019 (Portuguese).
  11. ↑ a b Relatório e Contas 2014. (PDF) Fertagus, 2015, accessed on May 15, 2019 (Portuguese).
  12. ↑ Carlos Cipriano: Há linha e há comboios, mas nicht há serviço entre a margem sul ea gare do Oriente. In: Público. December 21, 2014, accessed January 5, 2015 (Portuguese).
  13. ^ Carlos Cipriano: Fertagus diz que pode prescindir de subsídios do Estado. (No longer available online.) In: Público. July 22, 2010, archived from the original on July 14, 2014 ; Retrieved June 9, 2014 (Portuguese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.publico.pt
  14. ↑ Francisco Afonso: PCP garante que já não pode Fertagus renovar Concessao ponte there. In: Setubal na Rede. Retrieved September 23, 2009, June 9, 2014 (Portuguese).
  15. ↑ a b Leonor Matias: Fertagus quer explorar circulação ferroviária na nova ponte sobre o Tejo. (No longer available online.) In: Diário de Notícias. March 7, 2007, archived from the original on July 14, 2014 ; Retrieved June 7, 2014 (Portuguese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dn.pt
  16. ↑ Alexandra Noronho: Fertagus garante sete minutos entre Barreiro e Entrecampos com nova ponte. In: Jornal de Negócios. Retrieved April 28, 2008, June 9, 2014 (Portuguese).
  17. ↑ Bruno Cardoso: Fertagus propõe duas circulares entre Lisboa e margem sul. In: Setubal na Rede. March 17, 2009, accessed June 9, 2014 (Portuguese).

Web links

Commons : Fertagus  - collection of images, videos and audio files