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Spanish train in deadly derailment
 

A train has derailed in north-western Spain, with at least 10 people reported killed.

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Spanish railway company Renfe confirmed the train had come off the tracks near the city of Santiago de Compostela in the Galicia region.

A Renfe spokesman told AFP news agency several people had been killed and several more injured.

Spanish news agency Efe quoted police and hospital sources as saying at least 50 people were injured.

Reports said all 13 carriages had left the tracks, and four carriages had overturned completely.

Images showed dozens of emergency workers crowded around ruined carriages.

Passengers were shown lying on the ground being treated.

Renfe said the train carried more than 200 passengers, and was on the express route between Madrid and Ferrol on the Galician coast.

Dozens die as Spanish train derails in Galicia

A train has derailed in north-western Spain, killing at least 77 of its 218 passengers and injuring more than 100, officials in the Galicia region say.

All eight carriages of the Madrid to Ferrol train came off the tracks near the city of Santiago de Compostela.

Media reports say the train may have been travelling at more than twice the speed limit around a curve.

Officials have not commented on the cause. Analysts say it is the worst train accident in Spain in 40 years.

I can't believe they've started (now finished?) removing the broken train....the HSE held Hatfield train for 3 weeks while the investigation took place....

First, a TGV rake is very difficult to overturn or break up because the carriages are solidly pivoted to a shared bogie at each end.

And that second vehicle has a heavy diesel engine it, which probably means a higher centre of gravity. If so, then that explains why it is the first vehicle to tip.

Spain train crash: Driver Garzon declines to give evidence

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Train driver Francisco Jose Garzon Amo is helped by a policeman after a train crashed near Santiago de Compostela, 24 July 2013.

The driver of the train that derailed killing 78 people has refused to answer initial questions, Spanish police say.

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo - hurt in Wednesday's crash - is under guard in hospital.

He is suspected of driving too fast round a bend. Reports say the train was travelling at more than double the speed limit at the time of the crash.

The case should now "proceed to a judicial process", the police added. Spain is in three days of mourning.

The police chief in the Galicia region, Jaime Iglesias, said earlier that the driver would be questioned "as a suspect for a crime linked to the cause of the accident".

No date has been fixed for his appearance before the judge, a spokeswoman for Galicia's High Court, which is leading the investigation, told the AFP news agency.

The curve in question comes after many miles of straightish running over newly built dedicated high speed track. The new line was signalled with ETCS (European Train Control System) to a boundary point somewhere prior to the curve, where the signalling system switches to ASFA, Spain's near equivalent of the UK's TPWS.

I've watched an in-cab video of a train traversing the same stretch of line at the correct speed, but I don't know enough about Spanish signalling to work out where the demarcation point between modern and legacy signalling is.  The new line joins the old part way round the curve.

That video can been seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvvL3OTtXk (You'll need to switch to 480p or 720p as the default 360p doesn't seem to work)

Forward that video to around the 31 minute mark to see the approach to the curve.

...That video can been seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvvL3OTtXk (You'll need to switch to 480p or 720p as the default 360p doesn't seem to work)

Forward that video to around the 31 minute mark to see the approach to the curve.

I watched that vid through, there does not seem to be any fixed colour light signals until well past the accident site, I can only assume there is in cab signalling but it cannot be a speed controlling type of signalling whereby the system stops the train if the drive exceeds to max speed

In the UK speed limits are strictly enforced with drivers at risk of dismissal for all but the most trivial breaches.
This is however fairly recent, I can remember trains routinely exceeding speed limits, was there not a "140 club" years ago of those HST drivers who had reached 140 MPH.

So, the emerging picture is that the new line uses ETCS (ERTMS) which can provide full supervision of train speed. But does it have to? It can operate as an in-cab signalling system using only inputs from train and track, so I presume the reverse link to the train to apply the brakes is a mode that can be omitted.

There are still some "why did/didn't they" questions. It seems the handover from ETCS to AFSA was 4 km back from the curve, just before the braking point at 0.5 g. I'm sure ETCS would signal this braking where the restriction is after the handover, but only if the braking starts before it. Why put the boundary there, when braking from straight high-speed line to a low speed curve has to come near the top of any risk assessment?

And some plain puzzles ... e.g. ERTMS say that all AVE lines were switched to level 2 (no lineside signals) in 2012*, whereas this one was opened in 2011 and, if it has no signals, clearly used level 2 from the start.

I also wondered why the old and very wiggly Spanish gauge line from Ourense, that joins the AVE line from the left at the curve, was of the same gauge. It turns out this AVE line was built to 1.668 m and will be converted later! These trains also go through a "drive-thru" gauge-changer near Valladolid, having left Madrid on a (1.435 m) AVE line, and before joining the existing line to Ourense. Spanish rail engineering is indeed unlike our own in many ways.

 (* Correction - I missed that they (UNIFE http://www.ertms.net/media/2434/ertms%20facts%20sheet%205%20-%20ertms%20deployment%20in%20spain.pdf (http://www.ertms.net/media/2434/ertms%20facts%20sheet%205%20-%20ertms%20deployment%20in%20spain.pdf)) say the first was opened in 2011, which may have been this line.)

It seems to be a Level 2 system which I think is in cab signalling I am not sure how much the signalling system can override the drive (anymore than our AWS and TPWS) does now

Likny to ETRMS http://www.ertms.net/ertms/ertms-signalling-levels.aspx (http://www.ertms.net/ertms/ertms-signalling-levels.aspx)

ERTMS level 1 is designed as an add-on to or overlays a conventional line already equipped with lineside signals and train detectors. Communication between the tracks and the train are ensured by dedicated balises (known as ^Eurobalises^) located usually on the trackside adjacent to the lineside signals at required intervals, and connected to the train control centre. Receiving the movement authority through Eurobalises, the ETCS onboard equipment automatically calculates the maximum speed of the train and the next braking point if needed, taking into account the train braking characteristics and the track description data. This information is displayed to the driver through a dedicated screen in the cabin. The speed of the train is continuously supervised by the ETCS onboard equipment.
The main benefits brought by ERTMS Level 1 are interoperability (between projects and countries) and safety, since the train will automatically brake if exceeding the maximum speed allowed under the movement authority.

Spain train driver Garzon questioned by judge

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Francisco Jose Garzon Amo was taken to the courthouse from a police station

The driver of a train that crashed near the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, killing 79 people, has been questioned by a judge.

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo was detained on suspicion of reckless homicide after the accident. He is suspected of driving too fast on a bend.

Spanish media says Mr Garzon has been charged but allowed to leave the court. The judge has retained his passport, according to reports.

The investigation is still believed to be open and the driver will have to face trial at a later date. He will have to report to the judge once a week.

Reports say the train was travelling at more than double the speed limit at the time of the crash.

Mr Garzon, 52, was pictured being escorted away from the wreckage by police, blood pouring from a head injury. He left hospital on Saturday and was immediately taken to the central police station in Santiago. He had refused to make a statement or answer questions until now.

Spanish newspaper El Pais said Mr Garzon had admitted to "recklessness" in court. The judge reportedly said Mr Garzon was free to leave the court but was banned from driving trains.

On Sunday, an eyewitness to the disaster told the BBC that he had overheard the driver admitting minutes after the crash that he had been going too fast. Evaristo Iglesias, a resident of Santiago de Compostela, said he heard the driver saying he tried to slow down but "it was too late". Mr Iglesias said the driver, who was shocked and dazed, was repeatedly "saying he wanted to die" rather than see the damage at the scene.

Sunday's court hearing was closed but the judge was expected to decide whether to remand the driver as an official suspect, release him on bail, or free him without charge.

At least 130 people were injured in the accident. It emerged that one of them - identified as an American woman - died on Sunday. Dozens more remain in a critical condition.

All eight carriages of the train - packed with more than 200 passengers - careered off the tracks into a concrete wall as they sped around the curve on the express route between Madrid and the port city of Ferrol on the Galician coast. Leaking diesel burst into flames in some of the carriages.

The train's data recording "black box" is with the judge in charge of the investigation. Officials have so far not said how fast the train was going when it derailed.

Gonzalo Ferre, president of Spanish rail network administrator Adif, said the driver should have started slowing the train 4km (2.5 miles) before the spot where the accident happened.

The president of Spanish train operator Renfe, Julio Gomez Pomar, has said the train had no technical problems. He said the driver had 30 years' experience with the company and had been operating trains on the line for more than a year.

People from several nationalities were among the injured, including five US citizens and one Briton. Two Americans were among the dead.

The crash was one of the worst rail disasters in Spanish history.

No mention yet of the presence of the second driver in the cab.

Indeed.  AWS did not prevent the Southall accident (it was isolated on the HST) and ATP didn't prevent the Ladbroke Grove one (fitted and operational on the HST, not fitted to the class 165 Thames Turbo unit involved).

On the other hand it does confirm what I was finding already, that saying a line or a train is equipped with system x does not tell you whether and how it is used.

I'm not sure that's true Broadgage.  I was around when HST's came in on the Western region in1976, and I recall they all had speed limiters either from the outset of public service runs or very soon after which prevented them doing more than about 130 mph.  It maybe that early driver training runs etc pre-dated the speed limiters. 

I do remember doing 110 mph behind a Class 50 between Didcot and Reading: unlike Class 47's, which ran out of power above about 80-85 mph, Class 50's could really go!

Spain train driver 'on phone' at time of deadly crash

The train driver in last week's crash in Spain was talking on the phone when it derailed, investigators say.

The train was travelling at 153km/h (95mph) at the time, investigators at the Court of Justice of Galicia said.

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo was speaking to members of staff at the state-owned railway company, Renfe, they added.

Crash investigators had opened the train's "black-box" data recorder to find the cause of the crash, which left 79 people dead.

Moments before the accident the train was travelling at a speed of 192km/h (119mph), the court said in a statement.

Investigators say the brakes were activated shortly before the crash. The speed limit on the sharp bend where the train derailed was set at 80km/h (49mph).

"Minutes before the train came off the tracks he received a call on his work phone to get indications on the route he had to take to get to Ferrol. From the content of the conversation and background noise it seems that the driver consulted a map or paper document," a court statement said.

Mr Garzon is suspected of reckless homicide, but he has not yet been formally charged. He was released from custody in Santiago de Compostela, where the crash occurred, on Sunday but remains under court supervision. He must appear before a court once a week and was not allowed to leave Spain without permission. His passport has been surrendered to the judge and his licence to drive a train has been suspended.

Under Spanish law, his legal status is that he is suspected of being involved in 79 counts of reckless homicide but has not been formally charged. But officials said he had admitted negligence by being careless when rounding a bend too fast.

All eight carriages of the train careered off the tracks into a concrete wall as they sped around the curve on the express route between Madrid and the port city of Ferrol on the Galician coast.

Antonio Mart^n told EL PA^S that he called driver Francisco Jos^ Garz^n on the corporate phone to give him instructions on how to arrive at Pontedeume in A Coru^a. The call was made as Garz^n entered the sharp A Grandeira curve in Santiago's Angrois neighborhood at double the speed limit for the stretch of track.

Mart^n said the reason he made the call was to make it easier for a family with children who were traveling on the train to get off. The supervisor told police that he was in carriage number three and was accompanied by a rail security officer.

Renfe regulations prohibit anyone from calling the drivers of a train except for emergency purposes while they are operating a rail service.

Garz^n, who was going at twice the speed limit, heard an automatic signal alerting the driver that he was approaching the A Grandeira curve, where the crash occurred, while he was talking on the phone, according to EFE, which obtained a copy of a police summary report on the black boxes.

The train, which was traveling from Madrid to Ferrol, derailed at 8.41pm while it was speeding at 179km/h. Some four second later the driver threw the emergency brake, which dropped the speed to 153km/h, but the 13 rail cars had already begun to jump the tracks.

Both openness, and keeping things confidential have their merits.

In the UK, criminal prosecutions are normally held in open court, anyone including the press, may make use of the public gallery and report as to whom said what.
Inquiries into serious accidents are sometimes held in view of the public via either the coroners court, or a public inquiry.

Other inquiries, especially if potentially leading to disciplinary action against an individual are normally private.

It would seem that the Spanish approach favours more openness than the UK, this may or may not be a good thing, but should not be criticised for being simply different to the UK approach.
There is very considerable interest in this awful accident and the causes thereof, and in my view openness as to the on-going inquiries and evidence revealed is a good thing, it will certainly reduce the amount of ill informed speculation and rumour.

The judge investigating the train accident that killed 79 people near Santiago de Compostela on July 24 believes that Adif, the state-owned railway manager, may have some responsibility in a tragic event that has so far been blamed on the driver.

Although he stated that the direct cause of the accident was the excessive speed of the train as it entered a sharp curve, Judge Luis Al^ez now wants to question the Adif employee in charge of safety for the stretch of track between Ourense and Santiago. The date of the court statement has not been set yet as Adif has yet to identify the individual who held this responsibility.

A recording has emerged in Spanish media of a phone call made by a train driver moments after his train derailed in northern Spain, killing 79 people.

Francisco Jose Garzon is heard telling a colleague he was travelling at 190km/h (118 mph) instead of 80km/h and became distracted.

He also said he had previously complained that the bend, where the accident happened, was "inhuman".

The driver and the state-owned railway firm Renfe are on trial over the crash.

Magistrate Luis Alaez has charged Mr Garzon with "79 counts of homicide and numerous offences of bodily harm committed through professional recklessness". The driver is not in jail but remains under court supervision.

The accident, which happened during the evening on 24 July near the Galician city of Santiago de Compostela, is one of the worst rail disasters in Spanish history.

All eight carriages of the train careered off the tracks into a concrete wall as they sped around the curve on the express route between Madrid and the port city of Ferrol on the Galician coast.

Some 170 people were wounded in the crash.

'Poor passengers'
 
El Pais newspaper obtained a recording of the phone call Mr Garzon made to activate the emergency protocol after the Alvia train smashed into the wall, caught fire, and derailed on 24 July.

"There must be many injured, [the train] has turned over, I can't get out of the cabin," he is heard telling a colleague at Madrid's central station.

During the conversation, Mr Garzon repeatedly says "poor passengers", adding: "I hope no-one has died."

He also admitted going too fast at the time of the crash.

"I got distracted and I [was meant] to be going at 80, but I was going at 190," Mr Garzon said.

Wreckage of the train near Santiago de Compostela (27 July) The train was said to be travelling at more than twice the speed limit
"I had already mentioned to the safety people that this [curve] was dangerous, that one day something like this could happen."

Judicial authorities earlier said the train was travelling at 192km/h (119mph) on the bend where it derailed.

Crash investigators opened the train's "black-box" data recorder to find the cause of the crash.

Meanwhile, another recording has emerged of the driver's pre-trial questioning, the BBC's Tom Burridge, in Madrid, reports.

In the recording, Mr Garzon is heard giving evidence about a phone-call he received from a train conductor moments before the crash, in which they discussed which platform they would pull into.

The driver told the court he lost a sense of where the train was during the call. By the time he had engaged the train's electric and pneumatic brakes, it was too late, Mr Garzon said.

The investigation into the crash will also consider why there was no automatic braking system on the curve in question, our correspondent reports.

The safety mechanism has since been installed at the scene of the accident.

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23982566#)

Stable door bolted? In the forthcoming proceedings, this detail will be seized upon by all sides to make different points.
Mod Note: Edited to fix quote

In Angrois curve line Ourense-Santiago where Alvia derailed, the maximum speed is limited to 30 kilometers per hour. Until now, the limit was 80. Also operating as the new automatic braking system installed in the area, which starts four miles before the accident.

ADIF technicians have placed three beacons ASFA system with staggered speed limitations. The first (accompanied by a poster installed in the track) is at km 79/769, and limits the speed to 160 km / hour. Another beacon placed at km 81/669 (about three miles before the crash), with its accompanying poster, limits the speed to 30 km / hour, and the latter, in turn, is protected by another previous mark (called notice), approximately 300 meters, which limits the speed to 60 km / hour. If the train exceeds the speed limit, the ASFA system will trip and automatically brake the train, avoiding accidents such as occurred on July 24.

Train crash driver now only suspect

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79 people died in the train crash (AP)

The man who was driving the train which was involved in a crash that killed 79 people in Spain is the only person likely to face trial after a court dropped its investigation of 22 officials from rail infrastructure firm Adif.

A statement from the court said there was nothing to indicate that the officials could be considered suspects for having let the train run on the stretch of track near Santiago where the crash happened July 24.

The driver has admitted from the beginning that he was going too fast when the crash occurred and has been provisionally charged with multiple counts of negligent homicide.

The Adif officials included the company's three most recent presidents, board members and managers in charge of safety.

Siemens, Thales to upgrade Spanish railway safety

German engineering giant Siemens and French industrial group Thales have been chosen to upgrade safety features, control systems and signals on Spain's high-speed Olmedo to Ourense track.

French and German industrial giants Thales and Siemens said Monday they had won a joint contract worth 510 million euros to revamp safety systems on a high-speed train line in Spain. The consortium was 55-percent owned by Thales with the remaining 45 percent held by Siemens.

Wide ranging upgrade
Spanish infrastructure admistrator ADIF issued the contract to modernize the control, signalling and safety equipment on the roughly 340-kilometre (211-mile) section of the high-speed line between Olmedo and Ourense in northern Spain. It includes installation of the automatic train protection and control system, telecommunication and traffic control systems, as well as system maintenance for 20 years.

Safety improvements
To improve passenger safety, Siemens will equip the high speed line with train control system ASFA (Automatic Braking and Announcement of Signals) and central control technology.
 
At least 77 dead in Spain train crash
A high-speed derailment on another section of this high-speed line in July 2013 caused 79 deaths on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela, Spain's deadliest train accident since 1944.
At 2,600 route kilometers, the Spanish high-speed railway network is the largest in Europe.
bew/uhe (AFP, Siemens)

Thales is to install the ERTMS level 2 automatic train protection system, wayside LED light signals, axle counters for safe train detection, wheel sensors and landline telecommunications systems. Thales will also be responsible for installing new state-of-the-art electronic interlockings at several stations on the Medina del Campo-Zamora-Ourense conventional line affected by the work on the high-speed line.

The company will also provide all GSM-R mobile communications systems, power supply for the facilities, auxiliary detection systems, equipment buildings and auxiliary building work.

Siemens, for its part, is to install its safety solution based on electronic interlockings and associated technologies, with the ASFA system, centralised traffic control, supply of balises, track circuits, video surveillance systems and access control.

This 331 km section will benefit from ERTMS level 2 standard allowing a maximum speed of 350 km/h and reducing the journey to 2 hours. In 2018, it will provide a high-speed railway link between Ourense in Galicia and Olmedo near Valladolid.

The Madrid-Valladolid section came into service in December 2007, forming the first leg of the Madrid-Galicia high-speed line, and in December 2011 passenger operations began on the Ourense-Santiago de Compostela-A Coru^a section. The Olmedo-Ourense section will complete this Spain^s main high-speed corridors ^ the North-Northwest line ^ and will link the regions of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla Le^n and Madrid.