Two and a half years imprisonment for those responsible for the train accident in Spain in 2013
At the accident on July 24, 2013, a high-speed train from Madrid was derailed near the pilgrimage site Santiago de Compostela in the northwest of Spain. It was the worst train accident in Spain since almost eight decades.
The court banned Francisco Garzón, the train driver, and Andrés Cortabitarte, the former security director of the rail network operator, from working for four and a half years. In addition, they were ordered to pay compensation of 25 million Euros, which were to be paid by their employers' insurers.
According to the court, Garzón and Cortabitarte were directly responsible for 79 deaths. The death of the 80th victim, who had been injured in the accident and died months later from an illness, was not charged to them. Instead, the 80th victim was counted among the more than 140 injured in the derailment. The claim for compensation still stood.
According to investigations, the train was traveling with 179 hours-kilometers underway and was therefore more than twice as fast as permitted. The train driver had reportedly called the technical controller of the train on his cell phone just before the derailment.
Garzon was accused of disregarding fundamental safety measures by answering the call, the judgment read. This led him to activate the train's emergency brakes four seconds too late. Garzón apologized to the families of the victims in court under tears, but also referred to the lack of an automatic braking system.
Cortabitarte was accused of not having examined the risks of the accident curve. In court, he had stated that the tracks, on which the accident occurred, were "100% safe". This statement infuriated the families of the victims. Cortabitarte was insulted and assaulted. The trial with 600 witnesses and expert testimonies had already ended in July 2023.
- The railway accident in 2013, which occurred near Santiago de Compostela in Spain's northwest, occurred exactly five years before Garzón and Cortabitarte faced their employers for one and a half years.
- The Employer's insurers were responsible for paying thecompensation of 25 million Euros to the victims of the 2013 Madrid-to-Santiago de Compostela railway accident in Madrid.
- The men responsible for the 2013 train derailment near Saint James of Compostela in Spain, Garzón and Cortabitarte, were banned from working for four and a half years and ordered to pay compensation.
- It has been five years since the 2013 railway accident in Spain that claimed 79 lives near Madrid, and the man accused of disregarding safety measures and activating the emergency brakes too late is still seeking justice.
- The court trial for the men responsible for the 2013 high-speed train derailment in Spain, which took place near Madrid and Santiago de Compostela, ended in July 2023, nearly a decade after the tragic accident.
