The tender for the extension was won in 2023 and signed in December of the same year by the Mota-Engil consortium for a contractual price of around 321.9 million euros, but due to legal challenges from other competitors the process was delayed.
In March 2024, the contract ended up receiving prior approval from the Court of Auditors, but still had to wait for the decision of the Lisbon Administrative Court, following an action brought by one of the competitors.
In October of this year, the State Secretariat for Mobility said at the Infrastructure, Mobility and Housing Commission, in the Assembly of the Republic, that the work had not yet progressed to the ground due to the lack of the Environmental Compliance Report of the Execution Project (RECAPE) and authorization from the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority.
Currently, the Red Line is a circular line that connects São Sebastião and Aeroporto stations.
According to Cristina Pinto Dias, it will be in December 2025 that “the work on the future Violeta line” will be consigned, the new Odivelas/Loures Light Rail.
The Violet Line, 11.5 kilometers long, includes 17 stations: nine in the municipality of Loures (which will serve the parishes of Loures, Santo António dos Cavaleiros and Frielas, over a length of approximately 6.4 kilometers) and eight in the municipality of Odivelas (to serve the parishes of Póvoa de Santo Adrião and Olival de Basto, Odivelas, Ramada and Caneças), with a total length of around 5.1 kilometers.