A preliminary report released Saturday on the deadly funicular accident in Lisbon found that a cable on the upper car had disconnected, and said investigators would be looking at that factor, among others, as they continued to try to understand what went wrong.
According to the report by Portuguese authorities, the cable connecting the two cars had failed at its attachment point on the upper car. Investigators found that though two braking systems were applied, neither one could stop the rapid descent of the car, which is estimated to have made impact at 60 kilometers per hour, or over 35 miles per hour. The report suggested that this was not surprising, however, because without the support of the connecting cable, the brakes alone “do not have sufficient capacity to stop the moving cabins.”
The report, from the Portuguese aviation and rail accident investigative agency, did not explain how the cable broke free. From an initial review of the wreckage, authorities said, the remainder of connecting cable, including the attachment point on the other car, presented no anomalies. The report cautioned that no conclusions about the accident’s cause could be made, and that another preliminary report would be released within 45 days.
The funicular, the Elevador da Glória, for years has taken commuters and tourists up and down a steep hill in Lisbon’s center. It had two cars; one went up as the other went down, linked by a cable that ran through a pulley at the top of the hill.
On Wednesday evening, the car traveling uphill, which was close to the bottom of its route, halted suddenly and then fell backward, injuring some passengers. But the car going downhill went into free fall, jumping off the tracks and crashing against a building. Sixteen people were killed.
The victims included an American, two Canadians, five Portuguese and people from South Korea, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France and Ukraine, according to Portugal’s judicial police. At least 21 survivors of the accident were injured, the authorities said.