Lisbon, Oct. 21, 2025 (Lusa) — On Tuesday, Portugal's government announced that it had already asked the Institute of Mobility and Transport (IMT) to "strengthen and consolidate regulation and supervision" of public transport following the Glória funicular tragedy in Lisbon.

"At the request of the Secretary of State for Mobility, the Institute for Mobility and Transport is drawing up a proposal for a legislative diploma aimed at strengthening and consolidating the regulation and supervision of integrated rail, metro, light rail, tram, funiculars and mini-train transport systems," a source from that secretariat told Lusa today in a written response.

The same source stressed that "the preliminary report by the Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Accidents involving Aircraft and Railway Accidents (GPIAAF) on the Glória funicular reinforces the need for this diploma, which the Secretary of State previously requested for Mobility from the IMT".

The initiative aims to define rules for "construction, putting into service, operation and technical supervision, certification of agents with functions relevant to traffic safety" and "access to the activity of providing passenger transport services and maintenance of the respective subsystems".

The Glória funicular accident caused 16 deaths and around two dozen injuries.

Afterwards, all funiculars of this type were closed to the public.

The GPIAAF's preliminary report on the accident, released on Monday and to which Lusa had access, reveals that the cable joining the two cabins of the Glória funicular, which gave way at its attachment point in the carriage that derailed, did not comply with Carris' specifications, nor was it certified for use in transporting people.

"The use of cables that did not comply with the specifications and restrictions of use was due to several accumulated failures in the process of their acquisition, acceptance and application by CCFL [Companhia Carris de Ferro de Lisboa], whose organisational internal control mechanisms were not sufficient or adequate to prevent and detect such failures,"  the body said.

The investigation states that Carris, in the process of buying cables for the Glória funicular, sent potential suppliers different cable specifications for the Santa Justa lift, failing to detect the error or explain the mistake.

When questioned about this preliminary report, the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, said that the accident was caused by technical, not political, factors.

"Contrary to the politicisation that some made during the campaign, this report reaffirms that the unfortunate tragedy of the Glória funicular was due to technical and not political causes," said Carlos Moedas, in a written statement also sent to Lusa.

For its part, Carris indicated that the process of acquiring the cable for the Glória lift took place before the current board of directors.

The transport company also said it was unaware of any non-compliance on the part of the company that maintained the funicular.

HPG/ADB // ADB.

Lusa