THE tram at the centre of the tragic Lisbon derailment was inspected on the morning of the accident and flagged for a cable replacement.
The shocking revelation comes after 16 people – including three Brits – were killed in the horror smash.
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In the inspection report, one of the technicians noted the cable had 263 days left before it needed to be replaced.
Among the ten inspection procedures performed, technicians were required to answer various questions, including “Is the elevator in full operating condition?”
The technicians answered yes.
Just nine hours later, two of the elevator cars derailed onto a Portuguese foot path and smashed into a building.
Pedro Bogas – president of the tram company Carris – called the Lisbon tram accident “unimaginable” while being unable to reveal the cause of the breakage.
Bogas said the accident had “left everyone perplexed”.
He emphasised that the “cables are checked daily on a pulley”.
“If it had originated from something very obvious, we would have already identified it”, he said.
“The situation is unimaginable, unusual,” he added.
He explained general maintenance of the cars was undertaken every four years, with the last maintenance carried out in 2022.
He also said interim maintenance was done every second year.
Bogas confirmed the elevator had redundancy systems, which allow the vehicle to be stopped, but said “on a light railway [that is] over 100 years old, it couldn’t be exact”.
Six technicians maintained the carriage, while being supervised by three engineers.
Two Carris technicians also helped in the maintenance process.
An investigation was launched after the accident, and a technical inspection was carried out on the Lavra, Graca and Bica carriages and the Santa Justa elevator.
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Bogas confirmed the brakeman – Andre Marques – had been found dead “at the controls of the vehicle”.
“Our brakeman was at the controls until the very last moment, and that’s something that touches us all deeply,” he said.
“Everyone here is very dedicated and professional.”
The president said the Elevador da Gloria would continue to run.
“We will have a new elevator with even greater safety,” he vowed.
Earlier today, Portuguese authorities confirmed the nationalities of all the victims of the accident, including 22 injured passengers.
The three British passengers who died included an 82-year-old man, a 44-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman.
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