President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, speaking to television reporters outside Alto de São João cemetery following the funeral of one of the fatalities from Wednesday’s derailment, stated that the next report “is promised for 45 days from now” and that the final document will only be available within a year.
“If it were possible to shorten these deadlines, especially for the final report, we would all be grateful,” the President urged.
The head of state addressed the conclusions of the first “still very preliminary” report by the Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Aircraft and Rail Accidents (GPIAAF) released on Saturday. The report indicates that the cable connecting the two cabins of the Glória elevator “gave way at its point of attachment” to the carriage that derailed.
The report further concludes that the elevator’s maintenance schedule “was up to date” and that on the morning of the accident, a scheduled visual inspection was conducted, which did not detect any anomalies in the cable or the braking systems of the two carriages.
Thanking the GPIAAF for meeting the deadline “under difficult circumstances” – “so rare in Portugal” – Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa noted that there is only “a single expert” to assess rail accidents, urging more to be hired because “it is a very heavy responsibility.”
The President also highlighted what he considers to be the main doubts and leads left in this first report, notably what caused the cable connecting the two cabins of the elevator to come loose, and why the redundancy did not work to allow braking.
The initial conclusions – he further noted – suggest that the visual inspection did not detect the problem in the cable and also raise the question of “why there is no institution in charge of supervising this type of matter.”
The President also noted that, “with the available elements, it is not possible to determine the responsibility of individuals or organizations reactively to what happened at this stage.”
Therefore, “it is necessary to wait for the report promised for 45 days from now,” which Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa would like to be presented sooner. “We will have to wait until then,” he emphasized.
The Glória elevator in Lisbon derailed on Wednesday, resulting in 16 deaths and 22 injuries.
Managed by Carris, the Glória elevator connects Restauradores to the São Pedro de Alcântara Garden in Bairro Alto, covering a 276-meter route and is highly popular with tourists.
