Spain To Review Train Speeds After Deadly Crash

MADRID (AP) — A senior official says Spain will review speed limits and security systems throughout its rail network to avoid a repeat of a train crash that killed 79 people last month.

Public Works Minister Ana Pastor told a parliamentary transport commission today that the government also proposes improving rail signs and introducing hands-free phone communication between drivers and the rail control center.

A court investigating the disaster has said its preliminary findings show that the train that crashed July 24 was going 121 mph on a stretch where the speed limit was 50 mph. The driver had been talking on a company cellphone seconds before the train derailed.

The train derailed on a dangerous curve outside the northwestern pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela.