Precisely on December 7th, 2002, Metro do Porto inaugurated the Blue Line (A) and with it, the metro system in the Metropolitan Area of Porto, in an official ceremony at Casa da Música station, presided by the then Prime-Minister, Durão Barroso
Twenty years after that historic moment, the Porto metro has transported more than 950 million customers over the 67 kilometers of network (7.7 km in tunnel), which currently includes 82 stations (14 underground) and six lines.
Behind were colossal works that challenged the hard, granite and heterogeneous morphology of Porto's subsoil, with mandatory reference to the powerful 'micas' tunneling machine, which beheaded the city's entrails.
Between the formal opening of the first construction site, in Campanhã, in 1999, to the inauguration of the VC Fashion Outlet Station - Modivas (the last to be created), in 2017, the metro network was expanded and the Blue Line was joined by five more: the Red Line (B), the Green Line (C), the Yellow Line (D), the Violet Line (E) and the Orange Line (F). The municipalities of Vila Nova de Gaia, Maia, Gondomar, Vila do Conde and Póvoa de Varzim were connected to Porto and Matosinhos.
Currently, the construction of the Pink Line (São Bento - Casa da Música), the extension of the Yellow Line between Santo Ovídio and Vila d'Este (Vila Nova de Gaia) and the Ruby Line (Santo Ovídio - Casa da Música) are in the works. However, on the anniversary day we also remember the lines that never got off the drawing board, namely the Trofa line or, in the center of Porto, the Boavista or Campo Alegre line.
On its official website, the company mentions that Metro's operation allowed the removal of 12 thousand cars from daily circulation, which, from the environmental point of view, meant 55 thousand tons less CO2 emissions per year. At the same time, more than 200 thousand square meters of green areas were created and more than five thousand trees were planted in the scope of urban requalification works complementary to the network.
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