Ramal da Lousã was a railway line which connected the stations of Coimbra-B, on the

Linha do Norte Linha do Norte is the Portuguese main railway line that connects the two main Portuguese cities, Lisbon and Porto. Its length is . It goes through some other important cities such as Vila Franca de Xira, Santarém, Entroncamento, Pombal, C ...

, and

Serpins Serpins are a superfamily of proteins with similar structures that were first identified for their protease inhibition activity and are found in all kingdoms of life. The acronym serpin was originally coined because the first serpins to be ...

, in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. It was opened by the Companhia Real dos Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses, under the name Ramal de Coimbra, on 18 October 1885, and was extended to

Lousã Lousã (), officially Lousã Town (), is a town and municipality in the district of Coimbra, in the central part of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 17,604, in an area of 138.40 km2. History The oldest evidence provides an indication of ...

on 16 December 1906, and to

on 10 August 1930. During the 1990s the

Metro Mondego The Metro Mondego, part of the mass transit public transport system of Coimbra, Portugal, was to have been a light-rail network that runs above ground in Coimbra into the city's suburbs. Studies and planning were in progress but the Metro Mondego ...

project was planned, with the intention of replacing the Ramal da Lousã with a

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

system. The section

Miranda do Corvo Miranda do Corvo (), officially the Town of Miranda do Corvo (), is a town and a Concelho, municipality in the Portugal, Portuguese Coimbra District, district of Coimbra, with an area of and 2011 population of 13,098 inhabitants. History The fi ...

–

was closed on 1 December 2009, and the section Coimbra–Miranda do Corvo on 4 January 2010, with buses replacing the service. The section from Coimbra-B to Coimbra was not closed, making Coimbra the terminus again. The construction of the Metro Mondego started, but was stopped due to the

2010–14 Portuguese financial crisis 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

. In 2017, the

Portuguese government Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

changed the plans for Metro Mondego, renaming it Sistema de Mobilidade do Mondego: instead of a light rail, it is to be a

guided bus Guided buses are buses capable of being steered by external means, usually on a Bus lane, dedicated track or roll way that excludes other traffic, permitting the maintenance of Public transport timetable, schedules even during rush hours. Unl ...

system. The line from Coimbra-B to Coimbra is due to close by the end of 2020, and the new system is planned to be operational in 2021. The line would be fully closed on 12 January 2025, with the closure of the Coimbra-B to Coimbra section. Before the closures took place, Ramal da Lousã had a total length of .

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* {{Railway lines in Portugal Lousa Iberian-gauge railways Railway lines opened in 1885

See also

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Sources