Infrastructuring the Nation. Railways (1850-1900)

The construction of a railway network able to cover all the Portuguese territory in Europe deeply changed the country's culture of building. The new railway lines construction consisted not only of the railway track laying but also of the opening of new tunnels, bridges, viaducts, railway stations, water reservoirs, coal depots, roads, etc. New building materials such as cast iron, puddled iron, steel, Portland cement concrete were used for the first time on a large scale. A great deal of those materials was imported, in particular, Portland cement, laminated steel, and full metallic bridges, from Great Britain, Belgium, France, and Germany.

New techniques were also used for the first time in Portugal like the compressed air excavations, foundations with sunken caissons, metallic cast pillars, etc. Foreign engineers and specialized workers like divers or rivet heaters worked together with Portuguese supervisors, masons, and all kinds of traditional building trades.

From 1850 until the end of the nineteenth century, the Portuguese territory would become covered with this new infrastructure network: During the first period, “Sul-Sudeste” (Barreiro- Vendas Novas, 1861), “Leste” (Lisbon-Badajoz, 1864), and “Norte” (Lisboa-Vila Nova de Gaia, 1877) lines were built. A second and larger-scale phase followed.

This exhibition aims to guide the visitor through a selected number of railway lines and their different construction phases.