The Junction is a city and county seat. With 13.8 square kilometers and 20,141 inhabitants (Census 2021), it is located in the Tagus Valley and belongs to the Central Region, sub-region of the Middle Tagus. Situated in the centre of ribatejo, it benefits from its geostrategic insertion in the Tagus Valley region and good rail and road accessibility. It has two parishes, one on each side of the railway line that crosses the county. It confines with the municipality of Golegã to the south, with the Torres Novas to the west and north, and with the municipality of Vila Nova da Barquinha the source. It is 7 km from Torres Novas, 19 km from Tomar, 43 km from Santarém and 120 km from Lisbon.
The city was born in the mid-19th century, with the dawn of railway construction, and began as a simple train station. Nearby there were two places of few inhabitants, where the first workers were established. The technicians were, for the most part, foreigners. The labor force came, in a first phase, from various parts of the country, and then accentuated the flow of workers coming from Beira Baixa and Alentejo.
The name of the city derives from the railway junction that formed here, with the union of the northern and eastern lines. It served for decades as a mandatory stopping point for those who changed lines when the train was the most widely used means of transport. In that time, many illustrious travelers coming from Europe by the Eastern Line, or taking the reverse route, had lunch or dinner at the station's restaurant.
Several writers mentioned the Entroncamento nhis literary works. Highlights include names such as Hans Christian Andersen, Ramalho Ortigão, Eça de Queiroz, among others.
His station met political figures, from royalty until post-25 April. In 1915, he witnessed the attack on João Chagas, a politician and journalist, who was heading to Lisbon to take over a new government after the dictatorship of General Pimenta de Castro.
The small village has been growing thanks to the development of rail transport and its support structures built here – workshops and offices. The installation of military barracks from 1916, determined by geographical situation and railway accessibility, further increased the strategic importance of this place in full development and also increased its population.
In the 1940s, entroncamento was, after Barreiro, the second half of the country's laborer, representing the operated more than half of its population. creating neighborhoods for employees, a school, a warehouse of supplies, an anti-tuberculous dispensary that functioned as a health center, and even fostered sports activities. At the same time, with the evolution of technologies and the development of railway activities, it was expanding its workshop area and strengthening the training of staff, which had its high point in the creation of a training centre, now called FERNAVE, a huge building created from the root for these functions, which housed the Higher Institute of Transport.
Since the 1970s, due to conjunctural changes dictated by history and the passage of time, this situation has reversed. With the gradual replacement of steam traction by diesel and electric equipment and the introduction of new technologies, there has been a decrease in labor and the implementation of new professions, other centres of interest and professional activity have emerged. Today, the Junction still has many residents professionally connected to the railways, but without the dimension of the past. The main economic activities of the county are now trade and services, and industries related to construction.
Of interest in the history of the municipality is the recent National Railway Museum Armando Ginestal Machado. Be sure, however, to visit the churches and chapels that are part of the architectural heritage.
Source: Entroncamento Town Hall