The information was announced by Metropolitano de Lisboa in a statement.

The opening of the three stations beyond the usual hours so that the homeless can stay overnight, given the cold recorded this week, had already been announced, without, however, indicating the duration of the measure.

The municipality of Lisbon announced on Tuesday the activation of the contingency plan due to the record of low temperatures.

“The stations that are open from the early hours of January 9th until the early hours of January 14th will be the following: Santa Apolónia (north, walk next to the station building), Oriente (entrance through the gate on the Tagus side/center commercial), Rossio (entrance through the Praça da Figueira gate, next to Rossio)”, describes the statement released today by Metropolitano de Lisboa.

The carrier reaffirms its “effort as a socially responsible company” and states that the measure includes “support from the Municipal Police” and increased surveillance and cleaning.

Thirty-five homeless people stayed the night last night at the Pavilhão Municipal Casal Vistoso, in Lisbon, a number below the 100 beds available, and the service is expected to continue until Sunday.

Speaking to the Lusa agency, the coordinator of the Lisbon Homeless Planning and Intervention Center (NPISA) said today that, on the first night of activation of the contingency plan for homeless people, 44 people went to the pavilion and that, of these, 35 stayed the night.

“The remainder were referred to other transitional or more definitive responses”, said Paulo Santos.

On Tuesday, the president of the municipality, Carlos Moedas, explained the context of activating the contingency plan: “It is a plan that is activated every year if temperatures are below 3°C for two days, but I decided, as president from the chamber, that we should activate it now. We are obviously not yet at 3°C, but we have very low temperatures […] and we have a very vulnerable population of homeless people”.

The municipalities of Oeiras and Leiria also activated their plans for the same effect.