Spanish train drivers face mobile phone ban

SPAIN is introducing a ban on train drivers using mobile phones as a result of the Santiago de Compostela train crash that killed 79 people in July.

The train’s driver said at the time he was going too fast and had been on the phone to a colleague moments earlier.

Drivers will, however, be allowed to use mobile phones in emergencies.

This is one of a number of measures to improve security on board Spanish trains after one of the country’s worst rail disasters.

Public Works Minister Ana Pastor said Spain also planned to install data recorders like those used on planes to get a more complete picture of incidents.

The driver of the train that crashed on 24 July outside the Galician city has been provisionally charged with multiple counts of negligent homicide.

Formal charges are expected after another hearing.

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.

The crash killed 79 people and a further 170 people were wounded.