Safety officials face investigation after Spanish train crash

English>>World

Editor's Pick

Safety officials face investigation after Spanish train crash

(Xinhua) 13:32, August 21, 2013

Email|Print|Comments

twitter

facebook

Sina Microblog

MADRID, Aug. 20 -- Safety officials in charge of the railway stretch where a train accident killed 79 people last month in Spain were questioned by the court on Tuesday.

Judge Luis Alaez accused safety officials from ADIF, a state-owned company that runs the infrastructure of Spain's railway system, saying the causes of the accident could be connected with the lack of preventive security measures.

Overspeeding has been blamed for the tragedy. The eight-carriage train was traveling at more than twice the speed limit of 80 km per hour on a steep curve when it flew off the tracks.

However, Alaez argued that the curve of the railway tracks at that juncture was dangerous to the train and the lives of people.

"There was an omission of elementary precautions by those whose mission was to guarantee the safety of railway circulation of the line, which could constitute a punishable offence," he said.

Meanwhile, the train's data-recording "black boxes" showed moments before the crash the driver was speaking to an employee of RENFE, Spain's national rail network at the time of the accident.

The 52-year-old driver was distracted by the call and admitted taking the curve too fast.

Alaez said those responsible for safety should have foreseen that human errors, caused by fatigue or habit, could pose a risk on what was known to be a difficult curve.

Given the lack of adequate automatic braking systems that could work on that stretch of rail, Alaez wrote in court documents that other methods should also have been implemented such as visual and audible signals.

In his opinion, a signal asking speed be reduced to 80 km per hour was not enough as it was very close to the curve, at which point it was difficult to reduce speed manually.

The judge also asked ADIF and RENFE to deliver reports on security protocols and incident reports related to the track where the crash took place.

The train crash of Santiago de Compostela, capital of the northwestern region of Galicia, took place on July 24, the night before the holiday of St James, Galicia's patron saint. The train was especially full for that reason with 218 passengers plus the crew.

A total of 79 people died and more than 150 were injured in the worst train accident Spain has suffered in 40 years. The driver of the train has been charged with negligent homicide and released without bail pending trial.