Deadly Portugal funicular crash likely due to problems with cable, report says
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Problems with a cable likely caused a Lisbon funicular railway popular with tourists to hurtle down a hill, killing at least 16 people and injuring another 22 when it crashed into a building,
according to a preliminary report.
The yellow tram-like carriage, which carries people up and down a steep hillside in the Portuguese capital, hit a building after leaving the track on Wednesday, just meters from its twin
at the bottom of a steep hill.
Canadian André Bergeron, and his wife Blandine Daux, who was a dual Canadian-French citizen, were among the victims, which also included five Portuguese nationals, three British citizens, two South Koreans, one American, one French, one Swiss and one Ukrainian, according to Portuguese officials.
Portugal’s Office for Air and Rail Accident Investigations on Saturday released its first investigative report into the crash.
The report said the cabins had traveled “not more than about six meters” when they “suddenly lost the balancing force provided by the cable connecting them.”
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“Cabin No. 2 suddenly reversed, its movement halting approximately 10 meters beyond due to its partial excursion past the end of the track and the burial of the underside of the
trambolho (trolley) at the end of the cable trench,” it added.
“Cabin No. 1, at the top of Calcada da Gloria, continued its downward movement, increasing its speed.
The site of the funicular accident in Lisbon, Portugal, one of the Portuguese capital’s most famous tourist attractions, that derailed and crashed on Wednesday, leaving 16 people dead and 21 injured.
Photo courtesy: Kyodonews via ZUMA Press
The report added: “The cabin’s brakeman immediately applied the pneumatic brake and the hand brake to try to halt the movement.
These actions had no effect in stopping or reducing the cabin’s speed, and it continued accelerating down the slope.”
The report added an examination of the wreckage showed “the connecting cable had given way” at the attachment point to the cabin at the top of the hill.
A final report will be published later.