First tendered in March 2024, Lisbon’s Violet Line was conceived as part of the LIOS package to develp more urban rail corridors around the capital. It has been procured under a single contract coveri

Mota-Engil was the only consortium to submit a bid just below the project promoter’s €600m budget, something its rivals failed to do, essentially giving the Chinese-linked group a major edge over the other EU companies in potentially winning the bid. However, due to the size of the tender and CRRC’s involvement, the Mota-Engil bid was duly passed on to the Commission for scrutiny under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, with the EU now examining the bloc’s largest public tenders involving partners with non-EU state backing. Following a preliminary review, the Commission decided in November 2025 to open an even wider investigation into CRRC’s role in the bid. Mota-Engil was the only consortium to submit a bid just below the project promoter’s €600m budget, something its rivals failed to do, essentially giving the Chinese-linked group a major edge over the other EU companies in potentially winning the bid. However, due to the size of the tender and CRRC’s involvement, the Mota-Engil bid was duly passed on to the Commission for scrutiny under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, with the EU now examining the bloc’s largest public tenders involving partners with non-EU state backing. Following a preliminary review, the Commission decided in November 2025 to open an even wider investigation into CRRC’s role in the bid. Mota-Engil was the only consortium to submit a bid just below the project promoter’s €600m budget, something its rivals failed to do, essentially giving the Chinese-linked group a major edge over the other EU companies in potentially winning the bid. However, due to the size of the tender and CRRC’s involvement, the Mota-Engil bid was duly passed on to the Commission for scrutiny under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, with the EU now examining the bloc’s largest public tenders involving partners with non-EU state backing. Following a preliminary review, the Commission decided in November 2025 to open an even wider investigation into CRRC’s role in the bid.