for now I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt, the facebook picture dates back to 2012 and has been now stated that it was not speeding but just a photo of the train doing such a speed where it was allowed.

I was the first to pre judge but I am taking that back now, hopefully they will release the info from the black box with some pace.

I just saw the surveillance video, and whilst I don't claim to be any expert, it looked to me just like what happens with electric train set if they go too fast around a corner.

But I do think it's prudent to wait and see. They haven't had time to investigate, and it could very well have been a malfunction of something.

I'd like to believe the driver couldn't have been so shockingly stupid as to knowingly drive that fast approaching that corner (knowing full well the inevitable outcome).

But maybe he wasn't paying attention - or drunk or something like that. Lots of info is missing...

It would be simple to work out the speed from that video.

Not drunk, he passed the breath test thingy!

The train was said to be under manual control on the stretch where the accident occured as is normal procedure on the final approach into a station as I understand it.

Someone was saying on the radio this morning about how safe rail travel is in Spain and although it was incredibly sad the number killed, there are roughly that many killed every fortnight on the roads in Spain. I thought that was a lot, but a quick google confirms he wasn't far out.

Depends how you look at it.

It was mentioned earlier that trains move only 5% of ppl in Spain.
I would guess that maybe 80 or 90 % move by road, which puts it in a slightly different perspective.

Also bear in mind that most train journeys will also involve the necessity of a road journey at one or both ends.

Been formally charged now.

It just goes to show you should never judge a book by it's cover, to look at that guy's photo I would have put money on him being a super careful sort, the kind who keeps his small change in a purse and whose hobby is building models out of matchsticks. Speed freak, no.

but look at how close that dangerous curve is to a string of houses
it wouldn't have taken much "chaos theory" to have put the carriages inside the houses at a time when people are gathering for the evening meal

http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/07/26/...html?rel=rosEP

The driver received and acknowledged a warning to slow down 4 kms before the curve, so what was going on in his mind during those last 4 kms is anybodies guess, especially as he has now clammed up after initially admitting responsibility.

The fact that the brakes were applied too late when entering the curve could have been another factor and increased the instability, as with a car when the brakes are applied in a corner rather than before it.

I notice the second driver has hardly had a mention.
Did he have any role to play at that time, such as keeping an eye on what was happening, surely he hadn't nodded off to sleep ?



""In his first reconstruction of events, Garzón confirmed that an alert did go off in the driver’s compartment, and that he pressed a button to acknowledge that he had received the excessive speed warning.

But if that was the case, why did he not put on the brakes? Why would a train driver with so many years of experience take a sharp bend at a dangerous velocity?

“The driver was going too fast,” said David Manso Fernández from his hospital bed. “He tried to brake but it was too late.”"

I can't believe that they have managed to get the track cleared so quickly, and trains are now operating again on that line.

Two of the lines remained completely clear and were still operating during the removal process.
None of the lines were damaged including the one the train had just left.

Bearing that in mind, I was surprised they didn't leave the wreck in situ a little longer to see if anything further could be learned from it.

There's always one, isn't there:-
http://www.diariosur.es/rc/20130727/...307271400.html

Some people are just sick.

it isn't the UK !!

when an earthquake wrote off a high rise motorway in California they had started clearing within a few days and it was reconstructed within a couple of months.

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