Cable in deadly Portugal funicular crash failed to meet specifications, preliminary report finds

By Angélica Franganillo Díaz, CNN

(CNN) — A cable that broke in September’s deadly funicular crash in Lisbon was not certified to carry people and failed to meet the operator’s specifications, according to interim findings from authorities, reported by CNN Portugal.

The crash killed at least 16 people and injured several others after a steel cable connecting the historic Glória funicular’s two cars snapped, a preliminary investigation found.

The cable failed shortly after the cars began their journeys along Calçada da Glória, the narrow street where the funicular operates.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing one of the railway’s two cars derailing and careening down the street before hitting a building. One man, whose first name is Bruno, told CNN Portugal that the funicular car was “completely out of control.”

“It looked like a toy being thrown from one side of the Glória pavement to the other. I heard screams and then, suddenly, a loud bang,” he said. “You couldn’t hear people anymore and a cloud of brown smoke appeared.”

The Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Accidents in Civil Aviation and Rail (GPIAAF) said in its interim report that there were “serious failures in the cable, maintenance and brakes,” CNN Portugal reported Monday.

The report said the cable did not meet the specifications set by CARRIS, the funicular’s operator. GPIAAF also found that maintenance tasks were marked as completed even though they were not always performed, while the maintenance plan itself was recorded as “compliant and accepted” by the operator.

GPIAAF said a final report on the crash would be released next year and stressed that the interim findings are preliminary and not conclusive.

Catherine Nicholls contributed to this reporting.

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