Porto heritage tramway celebrates 150 years

The tramway in Porto celebrates 150 years and it stands as a testimony of the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of the Invicta. Also, it is 125 years that the first electrified lines started to operate in Porto, the first in the Iberian Peninsula, in the moment when the car that can be visited at the Tramway Museum in Porto, went up the Restauração Street in Porto, on 12th September 1895.

The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the provision, in Porto, of propelled railway vehicles transport services under concession or permission from a public body to the Baron of Trovisqueira. This year also marks the 125th anniversary of the first electrified lines for electric drive in the all of the Iberian Peninsula.

The first vehicles arrived in Porto in the 19th century, the so called American vehicles, powered by horses. Twenty-five years later, with the electrified lines, an electric engine was installed in a tram and the first electrified line in the Iberian Peninsula started running on 12th September 1895.

In the golden days, Porto had 150 km of railway, 193 trams serving 38 lines.

Visitors to the Tramway Museum soon realise why Porto has always been such a progressive city. A remarkable fact is that some of the trams are one century old and are still working.

The tram was utilized by people in Porto to commute to work, to go shopping, to go to the beach, to date or even to stroll through town.

Currently, the Sunday walk is a mandatory moment in the roadmap of both domestic and foreign tourists.

Today, the railway network is only 9km long, of a tourism route that includes three lines, five vehicles running between Foz and Infante, Massarelos and Carmo and Carmo to Batalha.

The Tramway Museum, in Porto, is part of the list of national museum spaces to have been granted the "Clean & Safe - Património Cultural" certification, thus ensuring that all preventive measures regarding the current pandemic are in place, in line with the health authorities' guidelines and that both staff and visitors can safely visit the museum.

The "Museu do Carro Eléctrico" [Tram Museum] is located in the waterfront of the River Douro, and it is considered a landmark facility of Porto, offering a unique heritage of the city's history.

+Info