Spain train driver jailed for 2.5 years over deadly 2013 crash

A Spanish court on Friday sentenced a train driver and a safety director to two-and-a-half years in prison over a 2013 crash that was the nation's deadliest rail disaster in nearly eight decades.

The eight-carriage train was travelling more than twice the speed limit when it derailed outside the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela, killing dozens of people.

The court found the two men guilty of manslaughter, saying they had "breached the duty of care imposed on them by their duties".

It also ordered them to pay 25 million euros ($27 million) in compensation, an amount that will be covered by their employee insurance.

An inquiry of the July 24, 2013, derailment found that the high-speed Alvia 04155 train was travelling at 179 kilometres per hour (111 mph), twice the speed limit for that stretch of track.

The train ploughed into a concrete wall, killing 80 people and injuring more than 140 others in Spain's deadliest train tragedy since 1944.

Investigators said the crash resulted from a lapse in attention by the driver, Francisco Garzon, who ended a phone call with the on-board conductor just moments before the train lurched off the rails.

- 'Grief and pain' -

When he took the stand, Garzon acknowledged he was distracted by the phone call but said the track should have had signals warning him to reduce speed before the curve.

He tearfully apologised to the relatives of the victims.

Garzon had already apologised to the relatives in a letter published on the first anniversary of the accident, saying he felt "a lot of grief and pain".

Andres Cortabitarte, a safety director at state rail operator ADIF, was accused of not having carried out a study of the risks of the bend where the accident happened.

He told the court the track where the accident happened was "100 percent safe".

But the court ruled the accident would not have happened "not only if the driver had been attentive, but also if measures had been taken to control the speed of the train in an area with a very high speed limit, or even to draw the driver's attention to his obligation to slow down in a more obvious way than was the case".

In its 530-page judgement, the court found the driver and the ADIF official directly responsible for 79 of the 80 deaths.

The 80th victim, who was injured in the accident and died 73 days later following a serious illness, was not considered by the court to have been directly killed by the accident and was instead counted among the injured.

- 'Very courageous' -

Around 600 experts and witnesses took the stand at the trial, which was held in a cultural centre in Santiago de Compostela from October 2022 to July 2023.

A pre-trial investigation concluded excessive speed was "the sole cause of the accident", with Garzon the only one charged.

But its finding that ADIF bore no criminal liability was later revised following complaints by the victims' families.

They said it was at fault because there was no automatic braking system in place nor sufficient warning signs before the bend.

As a result, the investigation was reopened in 2016 and Cortabitarte was also charged.

The Association of Victims of Alvia 04155, one of two organisations representing the victims, welcomed the court ruling.

"The court was very courageous in the end" because it recognised ADIF's responsibility as well, the group's spokesman, Jesus Dominguez, told Spanish television.

The accident happened on the eve of the festival of St James, one of Jesus's disciples, whose remains are said to rest in a Santiago shrine that draws huge numbers of pilgrims every year.

Thousands of people were in the city for the annual event, which was called off when officials declared a week of mourning.

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