Seven crossings out, five viaducts in as Santarém reconnects travel

Anyone who has tried to drive from Lisbon toward the central Ribatejo plain has, at some point, inched up to a red-and-white rail barrier and waited for an Alfa Pendular to streak past. That familiar pause could soon disappear. A package of works green-lit by Infraestruturas de Portugal promises to swap seven level crossings on the Northern Line for five road viaducts and two footbridges, reshaping daily travel in and around Santarém. Local officials are calling it the city’s biggest mobility upgrade in decades; Brussels is footing most of the bill; and expats weighing property searches in the area suddenly have a new talking point.

Why Santarém Keeps Popping Up On Your GPS

Perched on a limestone plateau 80 km north of Lisbon, Santarém has long been Portugal’s rail pinch-point. The Northern Line, which channels everything from suburban trains to the high-speed service toward Porto, cuts straight through the municipality’s most populated parishes—Ribeira de Santarém, Vale de Santarém, Peso, Senhora da Saúde and Vale de Figueira. Every at-grade crossing in those villages creates a conflict between cars, pedestrians and 200-tonne locomotives. According to the Transport Ministry, such intersections still account for about 37 % of rail accidents nationwide, a ratio the government now deems politically untenable.

What Exactly Is Being Built

The blueprint divides the engineering into two clusters. Lot 1 allocates €21 M for a road overpass above the modest Santana/Cartaxo halt and a second span in Vale de Santarém, erasing two long-standing choke points. Lot 2 assigns €32.7 M to wipe out five further crossings, including the notorious one at kilometre 69.474 where a lorry collided with an intercity train in 2016. Each structure will carry two-lane traffic and protected sidewalks, while the pedestrian bridges receive ramps compliant with European accessibility norms. When complete, the works will stitch together previously cut-off neighbourhoods and open shorter routes toward the A1 motorway.

Safety First: The Numbers Behind The Concrete

Across Portugal, the National Railway Safety Programme has set a 2030 goal of eliminating 155 crossings and automating 79 others. The Santarém-Cartaxo segment alone absorbs over €50 M of that envelope because it combines heavy traffic volumes with a dense settlement pattern. Infraestruturas de Portugal estimates the upgrade will trim rail-related casualties by double digits and shave several minutes off intercity timetables thanks to higher permitted speeds. Although detailed district-level crash data are scarce, the agency cites internal risk modelling that ranks the Peso and Estação de Santarém crossings among the country’s top ten danger spots.

When Will The Works Touch Your Commute?

All design documents cleared technical review this summer, and tenders are pencilled in for September 2025, pending a routine portaria de extensão de encargos—a piece of legal housekeeping that spreads the outlay over multiple budgets. Once contracts are signed, civil engineers forecast a 24-month construction window. In practice, that means the first overpass could open to traffic in late 2027, with the full suite ready before the decade ends. During the build phase, expect rolling lane closures on the EN3 and temporary detours through local roads; the municipality vows to post bilingual updates online after complaints from international residents about the lack of English-language signage during previous works.

Money Matters: Who Picks Up The Tab

Roughly 70 % of the investment will come from the EU’s Cohesion Fund, part of a broader €316 M allocation for rail safety upgrades across Portugal. National coffers cover the rest, while Santarém City Hall inherits long-term maintenance of the new structures—a compromise hammered out when the council agreed to fast-track urban-planning approvals. For foreign homeowners wondering if local taxes will spike, the mayor insists the arrangement shields municipal finances: ongoing upkeep will be folded into existing road-maintenance contracts rather than financed via a special levy.

Beyond Trains: A Wider Mobility Makeover

The viaducts dovetail with Santarém’s Plano de Mobilidade Urbana Sustentável, a decade-long push to tame car dominance. Parallel projects include a €1.2 M northern access road with bike lanes, a cliff-side elevator linking the hilltop old town to the riverfront station, and private-sector investments in a retail hub projected to create 183 jobs. Urban-planning adviser Paula Teles argues that “rail safety is only step one; the goal is a city where children walk to school without dodging traffic.” For expats scouting the region, that translates into quieter streets, faster train connections to Lisbon, and a potential rise in property values near newly unclogged arteries.

Takeaways For Newcomers Weighing The Move

If your relocation short-list includes Santarém or neighboring Cartaxo, keep an eye on September’s tender announcements. A positive government sign-off signals not only fewer horns and flashing lights but a faster commute south to Lisbon airport and north to Porto’s tech hubs. With EU cash secured and local politics aligned, the odds of delay appear lower than on past rail projects. In short, what has long been a picturesque but inconvenient rail bottleneck is on course to become one of central Portugal’s safest—and most connected—places to live.