Planning and construction On 13 May 1904, a decree was published ordering studies to be carried out for the installation of the Vila Real de Santo António station, on the site that had been preferred by the population. It was then expected that the locomotives would arrive in Vila Real de Santo António within a year or so. On 11 January 1905, a tender was held for earthworks in the stretch from Cacela to Vila Real de Santo António. One of the reasons for opening the line to Vila Real de Santo António was the need to better serve the agricultural fields in the
eastern Algarve by rail.
Inauguration The section between
Tavira and Vila Real de Santo António entered service on 14 April 1906 and was then considered part of the
South Line.
1930s–1940s Vila Real de Santo António's first station was located in an area that was then far from the city and the river, so that an international bridge could be built in the future to connect it to the Spanish railway network. The installation of a new interface was therefore planned, and in 1940 a brigade of engineers visited Vila Real de Santo António to choose the site for the new station. Meanwhile, the design for the new station building had already been drawn up by the architect
Cottinelli Telmo in 1936. On 4 September 1945, the new interface was inaugurated.
1950s–1960s In the early 1950s, the station housed a delegation from the
National Information Secretariat. On 1 November 1954, the
automotive services between
Lagos and Vila Real de Santo António began. In 1956, the
Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits ran three services on the trains between
Barreiro and Vila Real de Santo António: one with sleeping cars, one with dining cars and one with canteens. On 20 June 1969, the Board of Directors of
Companhia dos Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses approved the creation of excursion trains between Vila Real de Santo António and Lisbon, as a way of combating the growing competition from road transport in the southern region.
1990s In 1991, the
Inter-regional trains between Vila Real de Santo António and
Lagos began circulation.
21st century By January 2011, this station had three tracks, two 437 meters long and the third 407 meters long; only the first two lines had platforms, both 133 meters long, the first 35 centimeters high and the second 40 centimeters high — values later changed to the current ones. ==See also==