Jon Worth

Portugal loses HALF its international trains for a year

Well done everyone! 🎉

https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2026-03-23/portugal-train-service-to-be-replaced-with-bus/995015

Buses from Valença to Vigo

#CrossBorderRail

Portugal train service to be replaced with bus

The Celta international train between Porto and Vigo (Galicia) will be replaced by a bus service on the Spanish section for one year, starting on 6 April, due to engineering works, CP announced.

Mar 24 at 1:41pmWeb
Show threadQuixoticgeek1d ago

@jon notice the buses can't take wheelchairs. How on earth is that legal in the EU in this day and age?

Portugal and Spain really need to get their shit together on this border.

Show threadJon Worth1d ago

@quixoticgeek The practical answer: these are coaches, not buses, and have no lifts. I had to take one during a previous engineering closure.

But politically of course it's *absurdly* bad, just like every other thing with that border. Diesel trains on an electrified line? Hello!

Show threadQuixoticgeek1d ago
@jon you'd think they would do what a lot of other train companies do when a replacement bus is deployed "oh, a wheel chair, please wait a moment while we call you a taxi, don't worry, $trainCompany will pay for it"
Show threadMoof! 🔜 #JetLagTheGame NL1d ago

@jon …I was planning on taking that train around the 20th April.

Now pondering if I want to bother going to Valença, or just take a bus direct to Porto.

Show threadrail 🦊1d ago
@moof @jon I managed to take that train last year 
Show threadMatthew Vernon1d ago
@jon :(
Show threadLukas1d ago
@jon Now I get why people are calling Portugal a Western Balkan country, with how hard it is to reach it by train.
Show threadJon Worth1d ago
@spaetzlesmasher Spain is more the issue here than Portugal actually.
Show threadJonas Boström1d ago

@jon When you thought it couldn't get worse…

But closed for engineering works might at least mean that it will get better.

Show threadJohnny Ryall's Stylist1d ago
@jon I assume this is due to improvements, though? And not a lack of riders on the service? If the former, that's good news as long as it doesn't far exceed the proposed timeline (which I recognize it could).
Show threadTrainfo.eu1d ago
@jon Do you know anything about the spanish line Salamanca - Vilar Formosa? Looks like it was recently finished on the portugese side
Show threadJon Worth1d ago

@interrailinfosvenska Still not electrified fully Spanish side. So no passenger trains. Maybe from December 2026, but not before.

Also the countryside between the border and Salamanca feels like the end of the world.