The Chamber of Pombal defends the creation of a direct railway line to Leiria, as well as a new connection for the transport of passengers and goods between the municipality and Castelo Branco, within the scope of the National Railway Plan (PFN).
“Among the various proposals presented, the construction of a line that directly connects the city of Pombal to the city of Leiria and that provides adequate interurban services between these two cities stands out”, says a press release from the Municipality of Pombal. , which considers this an “alternative solution that will allow mitigating the effects of the Pombal-Leiria disconnection that the High Speed Line could have taken care to guarantee”.
Pombal is served, in the county seat, by the North Line and, in Guia and Louriçal, by the West Line, the same that passes through Leiria.
In the press note, on Pombal’s participation in the public consultation of the PFN, the municipality points out as “determining that the eventual release of capacity on the North Line for interurban services (intercity and interregional trains), local services (suburban trains and regional services) and goods has an adjusted and effective interurban offer that connects Pombal to cities such as Lisbon, Santarém, Entroncamento, Coimbra, Aveiro, Porto and Braga, adequately ensuring transfers to high-speed services” .
Another of the proposals is the modernization of the Oeste Line, with the Chamber of Pombal defending that “the rehabilitation and reopening of the Guia station is imperative, as well as an opportunity to transport trucks by rail, in particular for a municipality and region where there are multiple operators in the area of road transport of goods and logistics, operating with and for the Iberian and European market”.
The municipality also proposes, in the access networks to ports and international corridors and the network of logistical terminals, both of the PFN, “the express mention of the logistical platform of the Region of Leiria/logistic terminal network resulting from the articulation between that Intermunicipal Community” and Pombal, of which it forms part, next to the Linha do Oeste and Highway 17, in the parish of Carriço.
The municipality, led by the Social Democrat Pedro Pimpão, also intends to build a new rail connection for the transport of passengers and goods between the municipalities of Pombal and Castelo Branco (Cebolais).
In the same press release, the municipality regrets that the PFN “provides, in terms of the high-speed network, a route between Leiria and Coimbra that moves away from the station and the city of Pombal”, a situation that, “if not reversed, will ineluctably translate into the marginalization of the Pombal station and the services available in the city – namely the connections to Coimbra – also making it impossible to make a direct connection from Pombal to Leiria”, the capital of the district.
The municipality adds that “Pombal emerges as one of the pillars of polycentrism, which establishes the relationship between the urban systems of Leiria and Coimbra” and, “in the same way, establishes close relations with the municipalities of the Interior”, through Complementary Itinerary 8 (Pombal-Vila Velha de Ródão), “making the connection to the urban systems of Pinhal Interior and the Transfrontier Space”.
“Thus, due to its geostrategic importance, associated with excellent accessibility, resulting from the crossing of the territory by important road infrastructures” (motorways 1 and 17 and complementary routes 2 and 8, in addition to the North and West railway lines, proximity to the port of Figueira da Foz and air infrastructure (Casalinho ultralight runway), the Chamber maintains that Pombal, “in the context of the development strategy associated with the railway, should present itself as a reference municipality in the promotion of intermodality and in the development of new railway corridors”.