Spain train crash driver under investigation amid questions over speed - by Giles Tremlett

Spain's AVE

As Spain mourned the 80 dead in Europe's worst rail crash this century, questions were being asked about how the train had been able to hit a tight curve at such a speed that it spun off into a concrete security wall.

Analysis of video of the accident in the northern city of Santiago de Compostela suggested the train was going faster than 85mph on a bend where drivers are supposed to slow down after a straight stretch that allows them to reach up to 125mph.

"We were going strongly when we got into the curve," one driver was reported to have admitted shortly after surviving the accident on Wednesday, which killed more than a third of the passengers and left 168 injured.

A spokeswoman for the Galicia supreme court said the driver, who was only slightly injured, was under investigation.

The man, who has been named, is not believed to be under arrest but is expected to face questions from a judge with access to the train's data recording black box.

While trapped in the cab, the driver was reported to have given an account over the radio to officials at Santiago station. He was quoted saying, "I hope there are no dead because they would fall on my conscience" and having repeated over and over: "We're human. We're human."

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