Portugal's €20 Green Rail Pass Now Covers Lisbon and Porto Suburban Trains: Who Saves, and Who Can't Use It

If you live in Portugal and your daily trip into Lisbon or Porto is by CP train and nothing else, you can now make it for €20 a month. Since Sunday 27 September 2026, the Green Rail Pass (Passe Ferroviário Verde) is valid on CP’s urban trains in both cities. For a train-only commute, that is half the price of a €40 metropolitan Navegante or Andante pass.

But the pass covers CP trains only, not the metro or buses. CP’s rules limit it to residents of Portugal. And Fertagus trains are not included yet.

What changed on 27 September?

The Green Rail Pass has existed since October 2024. For €20 it gives 30 days of travel on CP’s Regional and InterRegional trains, Coimbra’s urban trains and 2nd class on the Intercidades. Its gap was Lisbon’s and Porto’s urban lines, where it was valid only on the outer stretches that the metropolitan passes do not cover.

Decree-Law 195-A/2026, published on 25 September and in force from 26 September, removes that exception. Its preamble names the problem: people travelling in from outside the metropolitan areas had to buy more than one ticket. On 26 September the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing said the pass could be used on CP’s urban services in Lisbon and Porto from 27 September.

That brings in these lines:

City	CP urban lines now covered
Lisbon (67 stations)	Sintra, Cascais, Azambuja, Sado
Porto (87 stations)	Aveiro, Braga, Guimarães, Marco de Canaveses, Leixões

The Alfa Pendular and 1st class on the Intercidades are still excluded. The price stays at €20, and no other discount can be added on top.

Who saves, and how much?

On 21 August the ministry gave two worked examples.

Commute	Before	Now	Yearly saving (ministry’s figure)
Monte Abraão (Sintra) to Entrecampos (Lisbon)	Navegante €40, or a CP pass €32.35	€20	€240
Famalicão to São Bento (Porto)	€60: Andante €40 plus the Green Rail Pass €20	€20	€480

The €240 is the saving against Navegante. Against the €32.35 CP pass, our arithmetic puts it at about €148 a year. The bigger Porto saving comes from people who live outside the metropolitan area and used to need two passes.

The ministry’s own wording carries the condition: passengers who travel exclusively by train. Navegante in Lisbon and Andante in Porto also cover the metro and buses. The Green Rail Pass does not, and CP says its card cannot hold Navegante or Andante tickets.

If your commute continues by metro or bus, you still need the metropolitan pass. In that case the Green Rail Pass saves you nothing on the daily trip.

So the people who gain are residents whose home and work are both near a CP station, on a line such as the Cascais or Sintra line. Anyone who already paid for the Green Rail Pass for long trips gains too, because it now covers the urban part of their journey.

Can visitors or new arrivals use it?

Not visitors. CP’s rules make the Green Rail Pass valid only for Portuguese and foreign residents of Portugal, and it is loaded onto the CP Card, which is also for residents only. If you are here on holiday, the advice in our getting around Portugal guide still applies: a Navegante / Viva Viagem card in Lisbon, an Andante card in Porto, loaded with pay-as-you-go credit or a 24-hour ticket.

If you have just moved here, you qualify once you are resident in Portugal. At a ticket office, CP asks for a Citizen Card for the digital version of its card. Its pages do not say which document a foreign resident shows instead. Our suggestion is to take your residence permit and passport to the ticket office.

How do you buy and use it?

• Get a CP Card first. Request it online in CP’s customer area (this needs a Chave Móvel Digital, Portugal’s digital ID login) or at any CP ticket office. The physical card, which also comes with a digital version, costs €6 and arrives within 10 business days at a station you choose, or by post for €2.50 more. A digital-only card costs €0.50.
• Load the pass. Choose 30 days for €20, 60 days for €40 or 90 days for €60. You can buy it on any day of the month in the CP App, in the myCP area of cp.pt, at CP ticket offices or at the new vending machines in stations in the Lisbon metropolitan area. It cannot be exchanged or refunded.
• Lisbon urban trains: validate the pass before every trip at a compatible validator or gate in the station. Where a station has different machines, follow the signs for the ones that take the Green Rail Pass.
• Porto urban trains: you validate on board by showing the pass to the ticket inspector when asked.
• Intercidades: 2nd class only, with a free seat reservation made in the 24 hours before the train leaves its first station. You can reserve two trips a day. Travelling without a reservation counts as travelling without a ticket, and you can be fined.

When we checked on 28 September, CP’s English page for the pass still said urban trains could not be used on the stretches covered by Navegante and Andante. The Portuguese page has been updated, and the decree is in force. If a ticket office quotes the old rule, the Portuguese page is the one to show them.

What about Fertagus?

The decree-law also applies the pass to the rail concession on Lisbon’s north–south axis. Since August the ministry has said the pass will be extended to the Fertagus line, and ECO reported that the compensation for the measure will be paid to CP and Fertagus. On 26 September, however, the ministry said the Fertagus extension is still being put into operation and will be announced in due course. Until that announcement you cannot use the Green Rail Pass on Fertagus trains: CP’s rules for the pass do not include them.

If you are choosing a home on the Fertagus line, know that it is already crowded. ECO reported in August that the “bridge train” is badly overcrowded at peak hours. It also reported that the new trains and carriages Fertagus has asked for are expected to enter service only in the first four months of 2027.

What should you do next?

• Commuting by car at this autumn’s fuel prices? Our post on the fuel appeal and record diesel has this month’s figures. On a train-only route, the €20 pass now costs half a €40 metropolitan Navegante or Andante pass.
• Comparing the whole transport picture? Getting around Portugal covers the metro, trams, coaches and when a car still makes sense.
• Choosing a home on a train line? Cascais is the obvious Lisbon example: a direct CP line to Cais do Sodré, now inside the €20 pass.
• Building a monthly budget? Cost of living in Portugal has the transport line and the standard Navegante and Andante fares.

Fares, covered lines and the Fertagus start date can change. Check the current rules on CP’s Portuguese Green Rail Pass page before you buy. This is general information, not financial advice.