Alfa Pendular Lisbon–Braga

A tilting Pendolino leaning through the curves of the 19th-century Linha do Norte between Portugal’s two great cities.

Portugal’s flagship tilting train has worked the Linha do Norte since 1999, when Fiat-built Pendolinos cut the Lisbon–Porto run below three hours. It leaves along the Tagus estuary, calls at Calatrava’s glass-and-steel Oriente station, then runs the Atlantic side of the country (Coimbra’s university hill, the Aveiro lagoon) before the set-piece arrival: high over the Douro on the Ponte de São João, Eiffel’s older Maria Pia bridge alongside, with Porto’s tiled rooftops stacked below Campanhã.

Stations

1. 0 kmLisboa - Oriente
2. 210 kmCoimbra-B
3. 266 kmAveiro
4. 325 kmGaia
5. 329 kmPorto - Campanhã
6. 360 kmFamalicão
7. 367 kmNine
8. 382 kmBraga

The stations OpenStreetMap lists for this service, in order, with the distance along the line as drawn here. A train may skip some of them.

Along the way

• Tagus estuary out of Lisbon
• Oriente station’s glass canopy
• Coimbra’s university hill
• Aveiro lagoon country
• Douro crossing beside the Maria Pia bridge
• Porto Campanhã arrival

How this line was checked

• Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 3587704 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within 30 m of them
• Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 9 m from it
• Checked against the running timetable via ÖBB Scotty: our line sits under 100 m from the shape of IC 131
• Wikipedia has an article for this line
• See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it

Questions and answers

How long is the Alfa Pendular?

The Alfa Pendular runs 390 km from Lisbon to Braga.

How long does the Alfa Pendular take?

The fastest scheduled journey is ≈ 3 h 30 min for the 390 km. That is an average of 111 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 220 km/h.

Who runs the Alfa Pendular?

Comboios de Portugal, with CP 4000 Pendolino.

How old is the Alfa Pendular?

The line has been in service since 1999. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.

How often does the Alfa Pendular run?

5–6× daily each way.

View on the world railway map →

Read more on Wikipedia ↗