Funiculars can be a very good addition to public transport services, especially in hilly and sloping city structures. In Lisbon, three such lines dating back to the 19th century have survived to the present day – they are not only popular tourist attractions, but also continue to serve real transport needs for overcoming particularly steep routes.
The Miradouro da Graça hill, officially known as the “Miradouro Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen” for some years now, offers a wonderful vantage point from the Graça district over large parts of the old city centre to the Rio Tejo. To make the ascent easier for visitors and residents of the district, the construction of a modern funicular railway has been under discussion for years, very similar to an earlier, but short-lived funicular from the 19th century. Planning and subsequent construction work has been underway since 2016, but has been repeatedly delayed. The funicular has now been ready since spring 2023, and the only carriage with a capacity of 15 passengers, which is pulled between the rails on two travelling cables, has long since been delivered. However, the new funicular, which cost around 5.3 million euros from taxpayers’ money, is still not in operation. Allegedly there is a dispute between the city council, the local public transport operator Carris (which also operates the other funiculars) and the city’s parks and transport management company EMEL, but who knows whether this is really the reason why the smart new funicular is still at a standstill. But perhaps the whole issue is an (admittedly rather expensive) initiative to continue to support residents and visitors to the city in their sporting endeavours to climb the stairs up to the Miradouro on their own foot…
