The Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Aircraft Accidents and Railway Accidents (GPIAF) confirmed that it is carrying out a preliminary analysis of the incident that occurred with an Intercidades train that lost a carriage, on Monday, on the journey between Lisbon and Faro, to decide whether a formal investigation will be opened.
In a statement released this Wednesday, and cited by the Lusa agency, the GPIAF explained that the ongoing process aims to “gather relevant information and assess whether there is reason to open a formal investigation process”highlighting that this type of occurrence does not automatically require a full investigation under the law.
O The incident took place this Monday between Grândola and Canal Caveira, affecting the train that left Estação do Oriente at 2:02 pm and was scheduled to arrive in Faro at 5:35 pm.
According to the same note, the incident occurred due to “the coupling device between the first carriage and the remaining train giving way”, which caused the train to separate.. The automatic braking system was activated immediately, immobilizing all carriages and avoiding more serious consequences.
The office also added that the analysis process could take up to two months, the maximum period defined for this type of evaluation.
Nonetheless, CP — Comboios de Portugal — also opened an internal investigation to determine the causes of the incident. The company guaranteed that “there are no previous records of failures in this mechanical component” and assured that “the safety of passengers was not at stake”, since the braking systems are designed to act automatically in situations of this type.
No passengers were injured and train traffic resumed after the intervention of technical teams on site.