Linha do Dão
| Santa Comba Dão-Viseu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route length: | 49.3 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1000 mm ( meter gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Linha do Dão was a Portuguese railway line in meter gauge that connected the cities of Santa Comba Dão and Viseu . The state railway company Caminhos-de-ferro portugueses (CP) closed the route for passenger traffic for economic reasons in 1988, freight traffic ended in 1972. The line began in Santa Comba Dão, on the Linha da Beira Alta , and ran parallel to the Dão river to Viseu. There she met the also disused Linha do Vouga .
history
The Linha do Dão was one of the first rail lines with a metric width of 1000 millimeters in Portugal . It was put into operation on November 25, 1890, and was the first rail route to Viseu , many years before the connection via the Linha do Vouga , or the Ramal de Viseu branching off from there. The construction company Companhia Nacional de Caminhos-de-Ferro (CN) was also responsible for the construction of the Linha do Tua , which was inaugurated in 1887.
In 1988 the line, along with many other Portuguese branch lines, was discontinued by the state railway company for economic reasons. Between 1997 and 1999, most of the Linha do Dão tracks were removed. The Viseu train station has also been demolished. Due to the closure of the Linha do Dão as well as the Linha do Vouga, which also leads to Viseu, Viseu with 50,000 inhabitants is the largest continental European city without a rail connection.
Parts of the former rail route have now been converted into a cycle path ("Ciclovia" / "Ecopistas"). In Torredeita, an exhibition of old steam locomotives commemorates the earlier operation of the Linha do Dão.
literature
- Herbert Stemmler: The narrow-gauge railways in northern Portugal . In: Wolfgang Messerschmidt (Ed.): Locomotive magazine . No. 68 . Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, W. Keller & Co. , 1974, ISSN 0458-1822 , p. 372-384 .