Ramal de Alfarelos
| Alfarelos – Bifurcação de Lares | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Route length: | 14.7 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 1668 mm ( Iberian track ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Portuguese railway line Ramal de Alfarelos , in German branch line of Alfarelos , connects the Alfarelos station on the Linha do Norte with the Bifurcação de Lares station on the Linha do Oeste . This rail route thus represents a direct connection between the two railway lines.
The line was opened in 1891 to speed up the connection between the port city of Figueira da Foz and Coimbra. With the newly built connecting railway between Linha do Oeste and Linha da Norte, it was no longer necessary to use the much longer route via Pampilhosa . With the opening of the line, the Ramal da Figueira da Foz railway, located further to the north, which was then still part of the Linha da Beira Alta , lost a lot of its importance.
The line, almost entirely single-track and with an intersection in Verride, was electrified in the 1990s. Since then, trains of the Portuguese state railway CP have been running every hour between Figueira da Foz and Coimbra via the Ramal de Alfarelos. A few pairs of trains also serve the Coimbra - Leiria - Caldas da Rainha route .
