Lisbon Funicular Crash

Question: is there one?

 

From the initial report there are skid brakes acting on the cable track. These are intended to apply if tension is lost in the cable but detail of the pneumatic system is unclear. See the report for further details ( https://www.gpiaaf.gov.pt/upload/processos/d054239.pdf ). The diagram in the report has red arrows to indicate the location of the brake shoes in the track.

Andy.

Each trambolho also incorporates four movable shoes (eight shoes per vehicle), operated by a pneumatically actuated lever system against each flange of the aforementioned Z-profiles, embedded in the pavement. This constitutes the cabins' primary braking system, both for service and emergency use. The cabins also have a manual braking system that actuates a common friction shoe on each wheel.

In the event of a failure in the cable connection between the cabins, the funicular system is designed to:

• ➢ Automatically apply the pneumatic brake to each cabin at maximum force, through an internal mecha- nism triggered by the loss of cable force in the trambolho;
• ➢ Cut power to the cabins' electrical system, through a tripping device located in the technical compart- ment at the top of Calçada da Glória and incorporated into the cable's flywheel support, which detects the absence of the load transmitted by the cable. The absence of electrical power in the system also has the effect of automatically applying the pneumatic brake to each cabin at maximum force.
  
  

 

So there is an underground braking system, where the tram grips the ' z' profiles buried in the ground.

I don't know if this is significant, but the lower tram does not seem to have come to an emergency stop either. It travelled uphill for 6m, then, when the cable let go, it rolled back down and beyond its usual stopping place, until the underground shoe ran out of conduit.