The Office confirmed that it has initiated a preliminary review process regarding the mentioned incident, aiming to gather relevant information and assess whether there are grounds for launching a formal investigation, as the incident does not fall into a category that legally mandates an investigation,” the GPIAF stated in a written note to the Lusa news agency.
The outcome of this preliminary review—per decree-law no. 394/2007, possibly taking up to two months—will be published on the GPIAF website.
In the note to Lusa, GPIAF clarified that the incident “involved the separation of the Intercidades train due to a failure of the coupling device between the first carriage and the rest of the train.”
“As a result, the braking system automatically activated on all vehicles, bringing them to a stop,” it explained.
On Tuesday, CP also announced that it had opened an inquiry to determine the “possible causes” of the incident, which happened around 4:00 PM on Monday on an Intercidades train traveling from Lisbon to Faro.
In a statement to Lusa, CP mentioned an “anomaly upon leaving Grândola station,” caused by a “breakage of the coupling between two train compositions, resulting in the separation of carriages.”
“There have been no previous records of such a failure in the mechanical component that broke. However, passenger safety was not compromised as the train compositions are designed to brake and stop in these situations,” the statement added.
The Intercidades had departed from Lisbon-Oriente at 2:02 PM, with an expected arrival in Faro at 5:35 PM.
According to CP, passengers from the detached part of the train “were safely transferred to the remaining carriages.”
After verifying “all carriages and their safety conditions,” the train proceeded to Faro.
The affected carriage was towed to Grândola with the assistance of a Medway freight locomotive.
