Lisbon, Sept. 5, 2025 (Lusa) - The maintenance and supervision records of the Glória funicular will be thoroughly analysed by the Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Aircraft Accidents and Railway Accidents (GPIAAF), which will be relying on external help in its investigation.
At a press conference at the headquarters of Portugal's criminal investigation police agency, PJ, in Lisbon, GPIAAF coordinator Nelson Oliveira said that ‘everything relevant to the investigation’ will be analysed.
Not only will the initial design of the lift be analysed, as well as its subsequent electrification and ‘successive improvements and renovations’, but above all the maintenance and inspection records, said Nelson Oliveira, alongside the national director of this police force, Luís Neves, the director of the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (INMLCF), Francisco Corte Real and the executive director of the National Health Service, Álvaro Almeida.
‘There's a lot of history, both in terms of how it works, but mainly in terms of the maintenance regime it's subject to, the supervision regime, the supervision by external entities, that's all we'll be looking at, the maintenance records, so a perfectly exhaustive analysis will be made, I can say that, of all the documentation that's relevant,’ he said.
This analysis also includes ‘the training of the people who carry out the interventions, the contracts that exist for the provision of services with providers outside Carris’.
Nelson Oliveira refused to commit to a final deadline for the conclusion of the investigation, reiterating that he can only promise a preliminary report within 45 days and that the time taken to draw up the final report ‘will depend on the resources that the GPIAAF will be provided with in the meantime’, after being asked what response there had been to the request to hire an additional investigator.
"It should also be made clear that hiring one or two investigators doesn't solve the situation immediately, because an investigator needs two years to be trained. But I don't want to dwell on this; this is neither the time nor the place. We are on a day of national and municipal mourning due to this tragic event," he said.
‘However, I would like to express my conviction that the Portuguese state, through the government, will very soon provide the GPIAAF with the resources it needs, because respect for the victims of this incident demands it,’ he added.
Still questioned about the external audit of the accident requested by Carris from the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, the GPIAAF coordinator stated that this request was news to him, but emphasised that the investigations by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the cabinet take priority and precedence over any others that may exist.
‘It is true that the GPIAAF, as far as it is concerned, at any point in the investigation, if it identifies any aspect that it believes constitutes an immediate risk, at that same moment it will inform the competent authorities so that they can take the necessary precautions or take the necessary actions, and as far as I know, a precautionary measure has already been taken that seems to have been warned, which is to have stopped the other lifts and funiculars until an expert opinion is carried out by an independent body,’ he added.
The Glória funicular in Lisbon derailed on Wednesday, causing 16 deaths and two dozen injuries.
The government decreed a day of national mourning, which was observed today.
The Glória lift, operated by Carris, connects Restauradores to the Jardim de São Pedro de Alcântara in Bairro Alto, covering a route of approximately 265 metres and is very popular with tourists.
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