The closing of a Level Crossing (PN), by REFER, in the Algarve, is once again at the center of the controversy. After the pedestrian crossing in Olhão, the company plans to close a PN for car traffic in Salgados, in Faro, which allows access to a land of 164 hectares that has a farm, with cattle, and six houses.
Those responsible for the agricultural company say they have been harmed and pressured by REFER to close what they claim is the only viable access to its exploitation. Feasibility is linked to the need to circulate heavy vehicles and machinery.
REFER, on the other hand, guaranteed the Sul Informação that the maintenance of this functional passage always depended on the owner of the holding and that it will be terminated "given the refusal of the owners to establish the respective private PN license, an imperative and necessary condition as established by the legislation in force".
The case has already involved the police, called by the farmer, following an initial attempt to close the passage by REFER employees. The GNR went to the scene, having stopped the work.
According to businessman Pedro Ferreira, managing partner of Casa Agrícola Ferreira, the GNR “said they could not close, as there was no viable alternative”. REFER tells a different story about this episode. "Since REFER was prevented from accessing the PN by the way - the owner claiming that it was private - to carry out the work, it was forced to access the site by rail, which can only happen after the procedures and validations of safety”, revealed the company that manages the railway infrastructure in Portugal, through its communication department.
REFER employees ended up accessing the site via an alternative route, excavating a ditch on each side of the line and removing the solipas (wooden beams). This episode ended with Pedro Ferreira, taken by surprise by the lack of warning and signage, stuck in the middle of the railway. “Fortunately, I was in a jeep and, with four-wheel drive, I was able to retreat. But if it were a normal vehicle, don't leave there anymore», he told the Sul Informação.
Regarding this situation, in particular, REFER argues that "the works carried out in the Public Railway Domain to close the PN, namely with the opening of the trench, aimed to safeguard security issues, creating a physical impediment to crossing the site, as the NP from that moment is considered extinct».
Pedro Ferreira: “I receive feed trucks here every fortnight, sometimes once a week. I also send trucks with cattle from here to Spain and Portugal every four months”
The most recent developments in this process and the increased “pressure” made by REFER, which has been going on for “three or four years”, led the businessman from Faro to publicly denounce the case. Until now, he had always believed in solving the problem, not least because, he assures, he never opposed the closure of the PN in question, provided that "an alternative that allows the circulation of heavy vehicles and machinery and a guarantee of right of way" is created.
In Pedro Ferreira's version, REFER's intention to close this PN is linked to the fact that there is a second passage, parallel and very close, which serves the Nascente de Faro and the company Sofareias. After the parties reached an agreement to suppress one of them, disagreement arose over who would invest in the necessary automations, to guarantee security.
«Unbeknownst to us, an agreement was reached between REFER, the Chamber of Faro [who accuses of “collusion” with the pressure made by REFER] and Sofaeia”, revealed Pedro Ferreira. This understanding decreed that REFER would pay for the automations and the company would finance the opening of a path to serve the neighboring farm.
REFER confirms that, «in conjunction with the Municipality of Faro, promoted a road alternative for all traffic, designed by the Municipality, and which had the assent of the various competent authorities», although it is not obliged to do so.
The person responsible for Casa Agrícola Ferreira guarantees that the road project, regardless of the opinions he received, was not dimensioned for the transit of heavy vehicles. In this way, Pedro Ferreira claims, he cannot accept the closing of the only passage that allows the circulation of this type of vehicles, at the risk of making his business unfeasible. Furthermore, it was not established that it could freely use a path installed on private property.
“I receive feed trucks here every fortnight, sometimes once a week. I also send trucks with cattle from here to Spain and Portugal every four months. In addition, there is an occasional need to bring heavy machinery here. The level crossing cannot be closed”, he illustrated.
Access to the land already existed before the line
The level crossing in question is as old as the railway in the Algarve, but not as old as the path it serves. This, guarantees Pedro Ferreira, already existed «in 1840», to give access to the agricultural land that, at that time, existed in that place. With the construction of the line, the passage, which for many years had no guard, was left open.
More recently, a system of gates "activated by remote control" was installed, which prevents the less informed from passing through, since, in the past, confesses Pedro Ferreira, "fatal accidents happened there".
Not least because this is an area where there is more traffic than you would suspect. «Technicians from the Natural Park, researchers and University students and tourists come here, who want to go bird-watching», he explained.
With these arguments in hand, Pedro Ferreira is now pondering advancing to the request for a Provisional Measure, which would oblige REFER to make the passageway passable.
Photos: Pedro Ferreira – Facebook
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