He underground cable that linked the two funicular cars That he suffered an accident on Wednesday in Lisbon, where 16 people died and 23 were injured, he gave in his fixing point in the cabin that derailed, the government’s government prevention and investigation of aircraft accidents and railway accidents (Gpiaaf), government agency in charge of the case said Saturday.
This organism published an informative note on its website where it explains that during the descent of the car that is The Guardafrenos went out of the road immediately activated both the pneumatic brake and the manual, which had no effect to stop the movement or to reduce the speed of the cabin that was descending.
Even so, the GPIIAF pointed out that the system that activates those brakes worked, but that, as configured, those devices do not have sufficient capacity to immobilize the moving cabins if they are not balanced by the end that unites them, so “it does not constitute a redundant system in case of breakdown.”
The text makes a reconstruction of the facts and specifies that at 18:00 local time (5:00 pm GMT time) of September 3, the two wagons were parked in the two funicular stations, one above at the top of the Calçada da Gloriathe slope through which it passed, and the other at the bottom.
GPIIAF said for the moment The exact number of people who were inside the two wagons is unknownsince it is the bodyguards who control it, and one of them died. Around 18:03 local time (17:03 GMT hour), the cabins began their movement, but when they had traveled about 6 meters respectively “They suddenly lost the balance force guaranteed by the cable that unites them. “
The down car abroed abruptly about 10 meters partially leaving the road, while the top followed its descending movement as its speed increased, traveling about 170 meters until At the beginning of a curve, he derailed and collided with a building and two postsand ended against the corner of another property.
It is estimated that the first collision occurred at a speed of 60 km/h and that the accident occurred in less than 50 seconds. The technicians underline that The cable he gave has a useful life of 600 days For this type of use and that had been installed 337.
The note adds that the so -called glory elevator (elevator gives gloria) had a maintenance plan with Great reviews every four years and daily visual inspections of visible security elements, in addition to other interventions of intermediate periodicity.
The Gpiaaf stressed that, according to the evidence observed so far, The maintenance plan “was up to date” And in the morning of the accident, the programmed visual inspection had been carried out and no anomaly was detected in the cable or in the brake systems. However, he pointed out that in the area where the cable separated it is not possible to visualize without disassembly.
He also pointed out that the funicular, founded in 1885, It is not under the supervision of the Mobility and Transportation Instituteand pointed out that at the moment it does not have “reliable” information about its legal framework or about the public entity with the obligation to supervise its operation and security.
The Gpiaaf will present its Preliminary report in 45 daysthat passes in parallel to the penalty developed by the Prosecutor’s Office and an internal audit, with the participation of external advisors, Carris, the funicular manager.
