Gloria funicular derailment initial findings report (EN) [pdf]

https://www.gpiaaf.gov.pt/upload/processos/d054239.pdf

by vascocosta • 11 months ago

46 38 11 months ago

gpiaaf.gov.pt

vascocosta8• 11 months ago

This is not a preliminary report yet, but presents interesting technical data, including a description of how the system works and a detailed timeline of what happened pointing towards the detachment of the balancing cable at the anchoring socket of the cabin that crashed.

mixdup• 11 months ago

It's also incredibly detailed for a report on an event that happened 3 days ago

davelondon• 11 months ago

Just what I was thinking! Normally these things take months...

evanjrowley• 11 months ago

A very unfortunate fatal accident for those involved. It is a sad outcome caused in part by the failsafe mechanisms not being designed situations where the cable broke the way it did. I hope these can be re-engineered to overcome such failures.

I only recently learned what a funicular was thanks to the diagnonal elevators in video games series of YouTube videos by sync-on-luna:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2oELc61XHE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5EHBoU6Ps4

vascocosta8• 11 months ago

Hopefully that's what this investigation will lead to. Nice videos.

robocat3• 11 months ago

Key lines:

the air brake and the manual brake were quickly applied by the brakeman of cab #1, but that in the current configuration, the brakes do not have sufficient capacity to stop the cabins in motion without their empty masses being mutually balanced by the connecting cable. Therefore, the existing brakes does not constitute a redundant system in case of a failure in the connecting cable.

DetroitThrow2• 11 months ago

So, the brakes would have never worked if connecting cables broke? And this specific failure has just never happened before? Jesus.

vlfig• 11 months ago

Although it isn't yet clear how much the brakes did actually brake, it is known they would never be enough.

So the cable was a critical component and initial findings suggest it wasn't being verified as rigourously, thoroughly and often as it perhaps should have.

phire• 11 months ago

The report only states the conclusion that the breaks did not work for the current configuration.

Which is a slightly awkwardly worded way of saying, “well obviously they didn’t work because we know they were applied and look at the result“

This is only an initial report. They still have no idea why the breaks didn’t work, and for how long they haven’t been working. Could have been a recent malfunction, something that happened during redesign, or a an inherent flaw going back to the original design.

mastazi2• 11 months ago

No that's not what it's saying. I've read the whole report. The hydraulic brakes are designed to be applied automatically and stop the car in case of cable failure. By mentioning "current configuration" the report is implying that the brakes were not applied fully, and the reason for this is still being investigated

ljlolel2• 11 months ago

Totally unrelated but there’s a Portuguese language Cold War miniseries on Netflix called Gloria that is excellent (set in Gloria city). I just happened to start to watch that this week

weinzierl• 11 months ago

Watched it front to back in Portuguese a while ago. It is one of the few series available in European Portuguese, most are Brazilian.

I'd say it was time well spent, it is an entertaining and capturing thriller and you learn a bit about a certain era of Portuguese history.

What annoyed me a bit was that it had many small period inconsistencies. Little things like modern buildings, modern cars visible in the background, the Yamaha grand that did not yet exist in 60s and so on. Where it shines are the landscape shots.

rcruzeiro• 11 months ago

When watching it, the thing that would consistently real the period piece illusion for me were the modern cranes that you could often see in the Lisbon scenes.

pjmlp3• 11 months ago

Another great one, based on the same direction approach as Casa de Papel, is Rabo de Peixe.

pta2002• 11 months ago

RTP (public TV network, which also produced Gloria and Turn of the Tide, the two Portuguese Netflix shows) is unfortunately the only network investing in this type of fiction television. The other two big networks unfortunately only seem to invest in soap operas, which run for 600+ episodes and are very formulaic. It’s sad because RTP has definitely made some very good stuff (and they’ve been collaborating with Spanish networks on some cross-border shows, there’s a few they’re pretty good), but you can tell that these things suffer from relatively low budgets.

That’s why turn of the tide came as quite a shock in quality compared to the rest of the shows - Netflix actually put a relatively high budget into the show, which just allows them to dedicate so much more time to these little things.

cesarb• 11 months ago

If you prefer to read it in Portuguese, the link seems to be https://www.gpiaaf.gov.pt/upload/processos/d054238.pdf (source: https://www.gpiaaf.gov.pt/detalhe-noticias?uri=1665 which has both links)

qingcharles• 11 months ago

Summary: the wrecked cabin had started its descent from the top station, only got a few seconds down before the steel cable pulled out of its socket; the cabin went into freefall down the tracks; the staff activated all the brakes available, but they were clearly not designed for this situation and could not provide enough stopping force before it derailed and hit a wall and a lamp-post at approx 60km/h.

yongjik• 11 months ago

Wow, only 60km/h.

If it was a modern bus hitting a building at that speed, most occupants would be able to walk out. Really puts into perspective how much safety improved in the past 100 years.

inferiorhuman• 11 months ago

Passenger cars from 40 years ago would struggle to protect you at those speeds.

vascocosta8• 11 months ago

One of the issues is that the body consists of a wooden frame, surrounded by a thin sheet of steel to avoid extra weight. So it's not very strong, plus the bulk of the 14 ton mass lies on the bottom where the bogies are. When it derailed and tipped over, the strong structure underneath the cabin sort of crushed the lightweight structure where the passengers were.

pjmlp3• 11 months ago

Have to read it with time, however as Portuguese I imagine the service done during the same day of the tragedy was as always in our culture, "good enough" and to move on.

Likewise having all offers turned down for service, in some other cultures, they would rather shut down the funicular than keep it running without such contracts in place.

Now several people are dead.

As usual, "casa roubada, trancas às portas"

vascocosta8• 11 months ago

Have to read it with time, however as Portuguese I imagine the service done during the same day of the tragedy was as always in our culture, "good enough" and to move on.

Coming from the same country as you, I totally understand. However, in this particular case the maintenance seems to have been done as it was supposed to be.

The problem seems to be that the cable broke at the anchoring point underneath the cabin, already underground. This is hidden from view during a normal daily inspection, where someone goes underground and checks the whole cable during a round trip of the cabin. They check the free cable going through pulleys and a flywheel, but they can't see inside the attachment point where the cable meets the cabin. This is only done in more thorough inspections, which do not happen daily.

Now, why it broke exactly at that point is probably related to how it was installed and not so much poor quality of the cable itself. Although some manufacturing issue could also be related.

We will have to wait and see, but like you said, several innocent people are dead. Hopefully in this case it wasn't down to our culture of "it's good enough, let's move on", which indeed, unfortunately, is part of our history. The least we can do now is find the real causes and make it safer in the future.

pjmlp3• 11 months ago

Thanks for the overview, living abroad I don't follow all details, as close as I would being there.

usr1106• 11 months ago

I find it suprising that the designed life length of the cable is less than 2 years. Is that common also for more modern cable transports?

Gloria funicular derailment initial findings report (EN) [pdf]

Related Stories