In the wake of the worst human (and most globally visible) human tragedy in Lisbon for many years, disturbing details have emerged with regard to the maintenance of the Glória funicular – the dramatic demise of which has cost at least 16 lives – and the three others like it.
ECO online reveals that only days ago, the tender for the four lifts and funiculars was cancelled by Carris (Lisbon’s public transport company) because “all proposals received were above the budgeted value”.
According to the Vortal portal (which lists public tenders), the tender for maintaining the funiculars Glória and Graça, and the so-called ‘lifts’ of Lavra and Bica, opened on April 28 this year, and closed four months later “without success”.
A message on the portal reads: “This opportunity was cancelled on 14/08/2025 at 5:05 PM, and the official cancellation date is 01/09/2025 at 5:16 PM for the following reason: Considering that the bids submitted by the competitors are higher than the base price, the decision not to award Process No. 046/2025 was approved, and the decision to contract was revoked, pursuant to the provisions of Article 79(1)(b) of the CCP.”
The maintenance period stipulated in the tender was 36 months, i.e. three years, and had a base price, excluding VAT, of €1.9 million, says ECO.
In this year’s tender, competitors proposed amounts above the budget to carry out the work, which led to its formal cancellation four days ago – three days before this tragedy, in other words.
Carris president Pedro de Brito Bogas is understood to have told journalists that an external company has been responsible for maintaining the equipment in recent years and that these checks have been carried out. He identified the company as Main, which Público newspaper has also previously reported as being responsible for this activity.
The latest contract on this subject, signed in 2022 and renewable for up to three years, was concluded with MNTC – Serviços técnicos de engenharia, Lda, a company based in Monte da Caparica, for a value of €995,500, explains ECO. A monthly fee of €5,913.30 was stipulated for the Elevador da Glória alone. According to Expresso newspaper, Main Maintenance Engineering is the trade name of MNTC.
This company was once again interested in the contract, as it was one of two that requested additional clarification in this year’s tender, says ECO.
Yesterday evening, with the nation stunned by news of this tragedy and the rising death count, SIC quoted Carris as saying that a new contract had been in force since Monday, September 1, and that there had been “no interruption in maintenance services”.
SIC also reported that this contract (to which company is still unclear) was awarded by direct agreement, following the cancellation of the tender.
Focus will now be on discovering which company it is that has been responsible for the maintenance of the Glória funicular since Monday, and how much their direct contract cost.
As we reported earlier this morning, operations of the Graça funicular and the Lavra and Bica ‘lifts’ have been suspended, pending a technical inspection, thus the new contract will effectively only have been active for three days.
Source: ECO online
