28th January 2010
Contract awarded to ViaPORTO consortium.

The ViaPORTO consortium is formed by Grupo Barraqueiro, Arriva, Keolis and Manvia

Lisbon, 28 January 2010 – According to an official announcement made today ViaPORTO, a consortium formed by Grupo Barraqueiro, Arriva, Keolis and Manvia, has been awarded a contract for the operation and maintenance of the Oporto subway, worth €170 Million annually. The award has been made as a five year subcontract.

From the financial viewpoint, which represented 80% of the final assessment, ViaPORTO’s bid was the most competitive, with an annual worth of € 35,834,887.

From the technical viewpoint, which represented 20% of the final assessment, ViaPORTO's bid topped the maximum classification of 10 points.

The Oporto subway tracks are 60 kms long with five lines, carrying a total of 50 million passengers/year.

Apart from Grupo Barraqueiro's expertise at national level, the ViaPORTO consortium also relies on the wide international expertise of Keolis, the world leader in the light subways field, which won the Tramways award for Algiers (Algeria) and Bergen (Norway). It also won the contract for Melbourne, Australia, with one of the most important subways' network currently in operation worldwide. The Melbourne subway is 250kms long and has 28 lines. Recently, this French company has also won the award for the Bordeaux (France) subway system.

The ViaPORTO consortium also proposes to develop solutions that provide a better interface of urban and suburban transport in the Oporto metropolitan area, in cooperation with the road transport operators of the Northern part of Portugal.