Spain to review rail safety after deadly crash

Spain said Friday it will review its railway network to improve safety after a train derailed last month killing 79 people, the country's deadliest train disaster in decades. "We are carrying out a general review of all protocols and all systems, as well as speed limits. When I say all, it is of the entire railway network," Public Works Minister Ana Pastor told a parliamentary panel in reference to the July 24 crash. "We are analysing the network. And we will take decisions that improve safety based on this analysis," she added. The eight carriage train was hurtling around a bend at 179 kph (111 mph), more than twice the speed limit, when it leapt off the tracks near the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela, according to its data recording "black boxes". It came to rest in a mangled heap after ploughing into a concrete siding. The driver, 52-year-old Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, was on the telephone to the on-board conductor and stopped speaking just 11 seconds before the train flew off the tracks. Garzon has been provisionally charged with 79 counts of reckless homicide. He has been released under court supervision while an investigation into the crash continues. In his first testimony to the regional court in Santiago that is investigating the accident last month, Garzon said he "didn't understand" how he failed to brake in time. "I can't explain. I still don't understand," he told the judge when asked why he hadn't slowed down in time to take the sharp bend four kilometres (three miles) away from Santiago de Compostela station. "I tell you sincerely that I don't know. Otherwise I would not have been so crazy as not to brake" earlier, he added according to a court recording of the hearing. Railway officials say the track where the train crashed was not equipped with the automatic braking systems in place on some high-speed lines and that it was therefore left up to the driver to brake. The president of state train company Renfe, Julio Gomez-Pomar, told the parliamentary panel on Thursday that the crew had not reported any problems with the train before the crash. "All security procedures were followed correctly," he said. "We are committed to finding out what caused the accident and we will continue to improve the safety of the Spanish rail system." Nine foreigners, including two Americans, were among the 79 people who died in the accident. Many aboard the train were Catholic pilgrims heading for Santiago de Compostela's internationally celebrated annual festival honouring St. James, a disciple of Jesus whose bones are said to rest in a crypt beneath the altar of the city's cathedral. It was Spain's deadliest rail accident since 1944 when hundreds were killed in a train collision, also between Madrid and Galicia. In 1972, 77 people died when a train derailed between Cadiz and Seville