Cause of Fatal Streetcar Crash Revealed by Authorities

Officials are attributing a streetcar derailment and crash in Lisbon, Portugal that killed 16 people and injured more than 20 others last week to a failed cable, according to a new report.

The fatal incident involving Calçada da Glória’s funicular railway, a national monument, occurred around 6:04 p.m. local time on Sept. 3, according to the country’s Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Accidents in Civil Aviation and Rail (GPIAAF).

The streetcar has been running in its current form since 1914. This particular system uses an underground connecting cable between two passenger cabins. The cable is attached to the truck of each cabin by a special trolley, or “trambolho” in Portuguese, according to GPIAAF’s report on the crash, released on Saturday, Sept. 6.

“From the on-site study of the wreckage, it was immediately clear that the cable connecting the two cabins had given way at its attachment point inside the upper trambolho of cabin #1,” the agency found.

The entire crash played out in less than 50 seconds, GPIAAF’s investigation revealed. At this point, the agency said the exact number of passengers in each cabin remains unclear.

The cabins began moving around 6:03 p.m., but after traveling less than 20 feet, “they suddenly lost the balancing force provided by the cable connecting them,” the agency wrote.

Cabin No. 2 suddenly reversed, but stopped about 10 meters, or 33 feet, further. Meanwhile, Cabin No. 1, “at the top of Calçada da Glória, continued its downward movement, increasing its speed.” The brakeman tried alternative brake systems, but “these actions had no effect in stopping or reducing the cabin’s speed, and it continued accelerating down the slope.”

About 170 meters, or 558 feet past where it began, at the start of a right-hand curve, “the vehicle, due to its speed, derailed and began to roll to the left in the direction of travel.”

Later, the cabin “completely lost its guidance, colliding laterally with its upper part against the wall of the building on the left side of the Calçada,” and then “head-on against a streetlight pole and another supporting the funicular’s overhead electrical network, both made of cast iron” and soon “ending its uncontrolled movement against the corner of another building.”

The first collision was estimated to have occurred at a speed of around 37 mph.

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“The violent collision was immediately noticed by bystanders and law enforcement officers present, and emergency services were quickly notified,” the GPIAAF said. “A significant rescue operation was immediately initiated, with emergency medical services arriving at the scene a few minutes later.”

The agency said it was notified about 50 minutes after the deadly crash occurred.

The streetcar service is a tourist hotspot, Reuters reported. Among the dead are five Portuguese, three British, two South Koreans, two Canadians, one Swiss, one Ukrainian, one American and one French resident, Portuguese police said in a release.