Portugal Rail AP/IC 2018 summer timetable
Jun 7, 2018, 10:28 am
#1
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Portugal Rail AP/IC 2018 summer timetable
I was trying to buy train tickets from Porto (Sao Bento) to Sintra (via Lisboa Oriente station) online at the Portugal rail website (www.cp.pt) but noticed there was no availability for just about any dates in July/August (my date is in August). Supposedly you are supposed to be able to buy tickets up to 60 days in advance, so I was puzzled. After some searching around on the website, I found the following notice: " The trains Alfa Pendular and Intercidades operating after July 7th are not yet available for consultation or sale since the summer timetable will only come into force on July 8th. "
Is this typical? Seems rather late to publish the summer timetable.
Is this typical? Seems rather late to publish the summer timetable.
Jun 8, 2018, 3:34 am
#2
Join Date: Jul 2005
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No, it's not typical. Timetables are usually published once a year in December.
They are going to be doing some works on the Northern line (Lisbon to Porto), which may require a reduction in top speed on a stretch of the line and a longer travel time (+10-15 mins), so they're re-working things now. Keep checking, but I expect, that you'll be able to buy the tickets 2 weeks out.
P.S. you may consider buying your ticket from Porto-Campanhã to Lisboa-Oriente, and then tacking on the local ticket later. This will let you see more trains. Your ticket covers your travel from Porto S.Bento to Porto-Campanhã, and the local ticket from Lisboa-Oriente (or Lisboa-Entrecampos) to Sintra won't be more than 2€ anyway.
They are going to be doing some works on the Northern line (Lisbon to Porto), which may require a reduction in top speed on a stretch of the line and a longer travel time (+10-15 mins), so they're re-working things now. Keep checking, but I expect, that you'll be able to buy the tickets 2 weeks out.
P.S. you may consider buying your ticket from Porto-Campanhã to Lisboa-Oriente, and then tacking on the local ticket later. This will let you see more trains. Your ticket covers your travel from Porto S.Bento to Porto-Campanhã, and the local ticket from Lisboa-Oriente (or Lisboa-Entrecampos) to Sintra won't be more than 2€ anyway.
Jun 8, 2018, 4:36 pm
#3
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you may consider buying your ticket from Porto-Campanhã to Lisboa-Oriente, and then tacking on the local ticket later. This will let you see more trains. Your ticket covers your travel from Porto S.Bento to Porto-Campanhã, and the local ticket from Lisboa-Oriente (or Lisboa-Entrecampos) to Sintra won't be more than 2€ anyway.
Jun 9, 2018, 6:12 am
#4
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Thanks! Our lodging in Porto is at the Ribeira so that's why I chose Sao Bento, but with luggage I think it's probably easier to Uber/Taxi to Porto-Campanhã. Getting the local segment Oriente to Sintra separately probably makes sense too, unless there is the possibility of selling out (we will doing this segment in the afternoon on a Sunday in August, so I doubt it).
The train to Sintra is a suburban commuter train that has no reserved seating - it doesn't sell out.
On second thought - if you can get the ticket straight to Sintra - go for it. I remember recently having a hard time finding ticket machines in Oriente, so that will save you a small headache. The only drawback is that in Sintra you'll have to exit through a manned gate, as it has fare gates.
Jun 15, 2018, 9:56 am
#5
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This is now the latest info on the Portugal Rail website:I don't really understand what's going on. I cannot buy an online ticket for Porto => Lisboa for any day in the future, either before or after Aug 4. Are the trains not running at all? If so this presents a problem for us as I was relying on a train to get us from Porto to Lisboa (Sintra, actually) on Aug 5th.
Timetable changes from August 5
Since the summer timetable will come into force on August 5th, the sale for the Alfa Pendular, Intercidades, InterRegional and Regional trains will be temporarily unavailable from August 4th. The trains will start operating again as soon as possible.
The sale for the Alfa Pendular and Intercidades trains will be temporarily unavailable from August 5th, since the summer timetable will come into force on August 4th.
The sale for the Alfa Pendular and Intercidades trains will be temporarily unavailable from August 5th, since the summer timetable will come into force on August 4th.
Jun 18, 2018, 10:53 pm
#7
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Thanks Palal, the tickets thru Aug 4 do seem to be available now. My travel date is Aug 5, so I guess I'll just wait a few weeks and they'll eventually make dates after Aug 4 available too.
Jul 12, 2018, 3:13 pm
#10
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Well, they finally are allowing tickets to be purchased from Porto to Lisboa Oriente on my travel date, Aug 5th. I want to buy 1st class, Alfa Pendular, but all the AP trains that day don't offer the discounted rate, except for the first (very early) train of the day. In contrast, the Sunday one week prior (July 29) offers several AP 1st class options at the discounted rate. Will more AP discounted rates be made available later? I did a dummy booking on the AP train I'd like to take and the seating assignment section showed only 6 or 7 seats taken so far, so I can't imagine all the discounted rates were already booked if they were indeed briefly available.
Jul 12, 2018, 5:07 pm
#11
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Well, they finally are allowing tickets to be purchased from Porto to Lisboa Oriente on my travel date, Aug 5th. I want to buy 1st class, Alfa Pendular, but all the AP trains that day don't offer the discounted rate, except for the first (very early) train of the day. In contrast, the Sunday one week prior (July 29) offers several AP 1st class options at the discounted rate. Will more AP discounted rates be made available later? I did a dummy booking on the AP train I'd like to take and the seating assignment section showed only 6 or 7 seats taken so far, so I can't imagine all the discounted rates were already booked if they were indeed briefly available.
In other news, there was a series of articles in many newspapers yesterday that this re-timetabling process is because CP doesn't have enough working rolling stock and not enough mechanics to fix the non-working cars. For the most part this doesn't affect AP service as much (yet).
Jul 15, 2018, 1:54 pm
#12
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I think I got lucky. Today I checked and I was able to get the promo rate for the AP train I wanted. The promo rate was not available on this train the other day. 104 euro for 4 pax Porto => Lisboa in 1st class - great deal! ^
Jul 19, 2018, 12:22 pm
#13
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In other news, there was a series of articles in many newspapers yesterday that this re-timetabling process is because CP doesn't have enough working rolling stock and not enough mechanics to fix the non-working cars. For the most part this doesn't affect AP service as much (yet).
Rolling stock shortage forces widespread train cancellations in Portugal