Lisbon Glória funicular derailment caused by snapped cable kills 16

Lisbon investigators say a snapped haulage cable caused a funicular derailment that killed 16 people and injured about 21 others when the citys historic Glória line came off its rails on the evening of Sept. 3. The crash, which left one carriage crushed against a building near Restauradores Square, occurred during the height of the citys rush hour on the steep Calçada da Glória and prompted a large emergency response and days of national mourning.

According to a preliminary technical report by Portugal's Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Accidents in Civil Aviation and Rail, the two cabins on the Elevador da Glória lost the balancing force provided by the connecting cable after it gave way at its attachment point inside the upper carriage. The report said Cabin No. 1 then accelerated downhill; the cabins brakeman immediately applied both pneumatic and manual brakes, but those measures failed to stop the movement. The carriage derailed on a sharp bend, rolled and struck a building after picking up speed, the report found.

Police and civil protection officials said emergency teams recovered the victims from the wreckage and transported dozens of injured passengers to...