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Situation with Portuguese Rail

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pemma

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Relating to a discussion on Trip Advisor following on from this:

CP said:
Operating disturbances - January 2013

Due to industrial action convened by several trade unions between 2 and 31 January 2013, there may be some disturbances and cancellations to urban services (particularly during the morning) and to Regional and InterRegional trains.

No disturbances are expected to the Alfa Pendular, Intercidades or Internacional services.

No alternative transport will be available.

Please contact our Call Center (808 208 208), Customer Support Offices or CP Ticket Offices for further details.

http://www.cp.pt/cp/displayPage.do?...bda7bc21eb310VgnVCM100000be01a8c0RCRD&lang=en

Someone posted this response:

The CP says that long distance trains eg to Faro or Porto are not affected by the various stoppages and work to rule actions (except on public holidays) but that once you get there the local and suburban services are affected in the same way as those around Lisbon, which includes the line to Sintra.

The main problem with these short stoppages is that no information is available beforehand about which trains will or will not be running. Here in the Faro district the staff at stations (what few staff there are) do not know if a train is running until it leaves its starting point.

This is the kind of industrial action that has been illegal in the UK for years.

Railway staff have consistently refused to work on public holidays for months and months. They are no longer being paid time and half for so doing and in response refuse to work.

These disputes are separate to any that might affect eg the Lisbon metro (underground) or city tram and bus services, but things have been pretty quiet on those fronts or a while.

The major coach and regional bus operators are not affected as they are for the most part non-unionised.

The net effect of all this is likely to be a complete shutdown of most of the railway network sometime soon. Many lines have been closed over recent times and in almost all cases no alternative means of transport is made available. This does cause genuine hardship, but the tiny number of people affected have no say.

Portugal and Greece are the only members of the EU actively running down their passenger rail networks.

Is the situation in Portugal really that bad? And does anyone provide informed views of what is expected to happen?
 
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stut

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Even the heavily used commuter lines have been affected - the Cascais line was operating less than one train in 3 last weekend, for example. There were unhappy crowds at Cais do Sodre...
 
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