Chinese-made metro trains make European debut

Chinese-made metro trains started operation in Porto, Portugal, on Dec 6, marking their debut in a European Union country, said CRRC Tangshan, the trains' manufacturer.

At 11:30 am, the first metro train departed from Trindade Metro Station, the busiest station on the Porto metro.

High-ranking government officials participated in the launch and took the train from Trindade to Casa da Musica station.

They included Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, Environment and Climate Action Minister Duarte Cordeiro, and, from the Chinese side, Huang Liewei, deputy manager of the company, which is based in Tangshan, Hebei province. Costa inaugurated the service, emphasizing his government's substantial investment of nearly 50 million euros ($54 million) from the EU recovery fund, and promising extensive benefits for residents and tourists from the new metro trains, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Costa also revealed plans to allocate more than 1 billion euros for public infrastructure development in key Portuguese cities such as Lisbon, Porto and Braga, the report said.

Cordeiro said that the newly launched Chinese-made metro trains not only met public expectations for more comfortable and secure travel, but also significantly improve the operational efficiency of Porto's metro network.

Huang said the subway train project was signed in January 2020 between CRRC Tangshan and Porto Metro. Under the contract, the Chinese company will produce and deliver 18 metro trains, each with four cars, for Porto Metro, and also provide five years of maintenance support.