Maintenance head denies reaching a conclusion yet

The historic Elevador da Glória in Lisbon, Portugal, suffered a tragic derailment on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in 16 deaths and 22 injuries.

The incident occurred shortly after 6:00 PM on cabin no. 1, which started its journey at the top of Calçada da Glória. The cable that connected the two cabins of the Elevador da Glória failed at its point of attachment on the carriage that derailed.

According to the Gabinete de Prevenção e Investigação de Acidentes com Aeronaves e de Acidentes Ferroviários (GPIAAF), the derailment caused the carriage to accelerate until it derailed 170 meters later. The impact of the derailed carriage against a building occurred at a speed of approximately 60 kilometers per hour.

The Elevador da Glória, a national monument built in 1914, consists of two vehicles, or "cabins", numbered 1 and 2. Each cabin weighs about 14 tons and has a capacity for 42 people, with a standing capacity for even more. The current maintenance provider for the Elevador da Glória is Carris itself, the Lisbon public transport company operating the funicular.

GPIAAF revealed that the maintenance plan for the Elevador da Glória was up to date, and the scheduled visual inspection carried out in the morning of the accident did not detect any anomaly in the cable or in the braking systems of the two carriages. The maintenance plan for the Elevador da Glória includes various intervention levels with differentiated periodicities.

MNTC, the company contracted by Carris to maintain the elevator, is cooperating with authorities to determine the causes of the derailment accident. An Information Note (NI) from GPIAAF was published today regarding the derailment of the Elevador da Glória.

The Elevador da Glória covers a distance of 276 meters, overcomes a drop of 45 meters, and has an average inclination of 18%. Despite the maintenance efforts, the maximum operating speed of the Elevador da Glória is only 11.5 kilometers per hour. The brake of the derailed elevator was activated automatically and manually by the operator, but was ineffective.

The Elevador da Glória has undergone various conservation and improvement interventions over the past 111 years. The operator of the Elevador da Glória, André Marques, has been honoured with a naming of an electric vehicle by Carris, although this fact is unrelated to the recent incident.

The entire event lasted less than 50 seconds, leaving authorities and the public in shock. The investigation into the cause of the derailment is ongoing, and updates will be provided as more information becomes available.