Portugal and Spain’s probable joint bid to host the World Cup in 2018 could speed up the construction of the TGV rail link.
This is according to Manuel Tão, a researcher at the University of Algarve, who has done his Phd on the high-speed rail link at the Institute for Transport Studies in Leeds.
Manuel Tão says that since the creation of the Single Market in 1992, rail network investment has been a secondary priority for successive governments.
The specialist has studied and compared sets of statistics on road and rail investment in Portugal over the past 18 years.
He discovered that investment in infrastructure in both areas increased in the run-up to both Expo 98 and Euro 2004.
“If Portugal and Spain are selected to co-host the World Cup in 2018, the TGV will rapidly get back on track,” he says.
“It seems we are only capable of completing large public works schemes when we are faced with a vitally important deadline and one linked to a major international event, which is important for national prestige,” he adds.
The Government maintains in official documents that the TGV high-speed rail link to Madrid will be built in 2013 and the branch between Lisbon-Porto-Vigo in 2017.
However, because of austerity measures which have put the third Lisbon bridge on ice, the TGV link between Lisbon
and Madrid may not go ahead until 2016.
Manuel Tão believes that if Portugal and Spain are selected to host the World Cup in 2018 that could change everything.
