September Lisbon funicular crash killed 16 due to faulty cable, prompting closure of other funiculars for safety checks.
Published On 20 Oct 2025
A Portuguese official inquiry has found that a funicular railcar that crashed in Lisbon killing 16 people last month had a faulty cable and recommended that the city’s other funiculars remain closed for the foreseeable future.
The report, released on Monday by Portugal’s air and rail accident investigations bureau (GPIAAF), said that the iconic railcars needed to remain out of service until they could be declared fully safe. However, safety recommendations are not expected to be provided until the bureau issues its final report on the incident within the next year.
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The GPIAAF said that inspectors would need to confirm that the funicular car’s braking systems were “capable of immobilising the cabins in the event of a cable break”.
The accident on September 3 occurred on the 19th century Gloria tramway, which is popular with tourists. The dead included five Portuguese and 11 foreigners: three from the United Kingdom, two Canadians, two South Koreans, one American, one Frenchwoman, one Swiss and one Ukrainian.
About 20 people were also injured in the accident.
A note published by the GPIAAF three days after the crash found that a cable linking two cabins disconnected before the disaster. The latest investigation has found that the “cable did not comply with the specifications in force at the CCFL [Lisbon’s transport operator] to be used for the Gloria tram”.
The investigation found that the driver of the funicular had activated the brakes, but that they were not able to stop the carriage from derailing.
The faulty cable led to a carriage derailing at 6:15pm local time (17:15 GMT), before speeding down a steep slope and crashing into a building.
The carriage toppled onto its side after the crash, with the sides and roof of the carriage partly crumpled by the impact.
The Gloria was opened in 1885 and travelled up and down one of Lisbon’s many well-known steep hills. It operated using a counterweight system, which no longer worked once the cable disconnected.
