Campanhã railway station

The Campanhã Railway Station is a 19th-century railway station in the civil parish of Campanhã, in the municipality of Porto, district of Porto. Opened in 1877, it is connected to the Porto Metro, with local intercity and commuter service . The railway station provides Lisbon to north access, a through-station, and not a terminus station, serving the Lisbon-to-north allowing through running of trains from Lisbon to the north of Portugal.HistoryThe first plan for a station was presented in 1860, to be built in Esteiro de Campanhã and that connected the Douro line to Minho, through an extension that follows the Campanhã valley to the branches along the Rio Tinto. Initially designated, the Estação de caminho de ferro do Pinheiro (Pinheiro Railway Station), the station at Campanhã was designated for lands occupied by the estates of Quinta do Pinheiro and Quintas do Valado.In 1872, the current layout was definitively set by Manuel Afonso Espregueira, Pedro Inácio Lopes and Alexandre Eiffel. Manuel Afonso de Espregueira, from Viana do Castelo, had a licentiate degree in mathematics from the University of Coimbra, and completed courses in infantry and general staff at the Escola do Exército (Military School). Later he attended the École Imperiale des Ponts et Chaussées, in Paris, where he was one of the better students and colleague of other important people, such as Sadi Carnot (later President of the French Republic. In 1880, he abandoned the army and entered the public service (specifically the Ministry of Public Works) where he held various positions and was part of several projects (such as artificial port of Leixões, improvements to the Barra do Porto and Figueira da Foz, among others). He was a director of the first Divisão Hidráulica do Reino (Hydraulic Division of the Kingdom) that was responsible for ports and inlets along the area north of the Mondego, except Aveiro.