Douro Line

A cab ride up the Douro valley from Régua to Pocinho, past terraced port vineyards, the tiled station at Pinhão and the river crossing at Ferradosa.

The route

The Douro Line runs east from Porto up the valley of the Douro river towards the Spanish border. It was built in stages from 1875, when the first section left Ermesinde, reaching Régua in 1879, Pinhão in 1880, Tua in 1883 and Pocinho in January 1887. By the end of that year it had arrived at Barca d'Alva, where it connected with the line to Salamanca and gave the wine country of the upper Douro a rail link to Porto and to Spain.

The line is laid to the Iberian gauge of 1,668 mm. It is double track from Ermesinde to Caíde and single track beyond, and overhead wires end at Marco de Canaveses, so everything on the section in this film is worked by diesel trains. Much of the way the track sits on a narrow shelf between the river and the slopes, with tunnels and retaining walls where the valley closes in. Five metre-gauge branches once fed it from the hills; the last of them closed in 2009.

Spain closed its connecting line in 1984, and in 1988 Portuguese services were cut back to Pocinho, which has been the end of the line ever since. A study into reopening the stretch to Barca d'Alva was commissioned in 2023. Today the line carries regional passengers and visitors to the Alto Douro Wine Region, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, while Medway runs freight trains on the line.

What you will see

The film begins at Régua, in the riverside town of Peso da Régua. The station opened in 1879 and was the junction for the metre-gauge Corgo line to Vila Real until 2009. Heading upstream, the train keeps close to the river, passing small stations such as Covelinhas and Ferrão, with terraced vineyards and quintas rising on both banks. At Pinhão the platform walls are covered with 24 azulejo panels, more than 3,000 tiles put up in 1937, showing the grape harvest, the treading of the grapes and the rabelo boats that once carried wine down to Vila Nova de Gaia.

Beyond Pinhão the valley grows rockier. Tua, opened in 1883, was the line's terminus for four years and later the junction for the narrow-gauge Tua line north to Mirandela and Bragança, closed in 2008; it also marks the edge of the Douro Superior wine area. Further on, near Ferradosa, the train crosses the river on a bridge built around 1980, when the Valeira dam raised the water level, replacing the original bridge of 1887. From here the line continues on the left bank.

The last stretch passes the small stops of Vargelas, Vesúvio and Freixo de Numão-Mós do Douro before reaching Pocinho. The station building there carries tile panels by Gilberto Renda and J. Oliveira showing daily life in the region. Until 1988 Pocinho was also the junction for the narrow-gauge Sabor line, which in the 1950s brought iron ore down from the Reboredo mines to be loaded into broad-gauge wagons.

Riding it for real

Comboios de Portugal runs regional and InterRegional trains from Porto São Bento up the valley; some go through to Pocinho and others turn back earlier, and the full journey takes about 3 hours 20 minutes. Urban trains cover the electrified section as far as Marco de Canaveses. CP also runs the Douro Historical Train, a tourist service, on part of the line.

For the best views of the river, sit on the right-hand side heading upstream as far as Ferradosa, where the line changes banks. Check CP for current timetables and fares before you travel.

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