The railway station of Azambuja is one of the most recognizable buildings in the town and is part of the daily routine of thousands of passengers, but its history hides a particularity that remains invisible to those who pass through its platforms. To be able to erect the station on the unstable terrain of the lezíria, it was necessary to lay the building on pine piles, many of them driven over 12 meters deep.
The history of the construction is detailed in the C.P. Bulletin, No. 82, published in April 1936 by the Portuguese Railway Company. The station we know today replaced a much older one, one of the oldest on the old railway network, which already showed evident signs of degradation. The project was drawn up in 1933 and construction took place over the following two years, being completed in 1935. The building included on the ground floor the telegraph, the station master's office, the ticket offices and the baggage dispatch, as well as a large vestibule that gave access to the waiting rooms and platforms, and on the first floor two staff apartments, each with five rooms.
It was during the excavations that one of the greatest challenges of the work arose. The surveys revealed a layer of mud approximately two meters thick and, beneath this, permanently waterlogged sandy terrain. The solution involved using green pine piles, driven deep into the ground until sufficient resistance was found. A wooden structure was mounted on them, followed by a general beam intended to distribute and support the weight of the walls. The proximity of water was not seen as a problem for the wood, as the CP document explained that, remaining constantly submerged without alternating contact with the air, it could be preserved for a practically indefinite period.
Aesthetic concern was also present in the project, which combined sober lines with elements of traditional Portuguese architecture. On the façade facing the town, the coat of arms of Azambuja was placed in limestone from Chão de Maçãs, and at the ends of the building, large tile panels were installed depicting motifs related to the agricultural activity of the region. On the track side, a large reinforced concrete porch with approximately 4.5 meters of cantilever was also built, presented at the time as an innovation in Portugal. Almost a century later, the station continues to fulfill the function for which it was built, remaining as one of the main gateways in and out of Azambuja.
