Spain's regional authorities want answers over causes of train crash

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MADRID, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- The regional authority in northeastern Spain's Catalan region has announced that it will hold an investigation and hold to account whoever is discovered to be responsible for the fatal railway accident near Barcelona on Friday evening.

A 26-year-old woman who was driving one of the trains died, while around 100 people were injured -- six of them seriously, in a head-on collision between two commuter trains at around 6:00 p.m. local time between the stations of Manresa and Sant Vincenc de Castellet.

Although the investigation into the causes of the accident is still under way, the fact the two trains were on the same track at a position where there are two tracks implies a major error happened to cause the crash.

"In that stretch of track, there should be elements of security to avoid accidents such as this happening. With the investigation now on the table, we are going to demand corrections," Damia Calvet, who is responsible for the department of Planning and Sustainability at the Catalan regional government, told radio station Rac-1 Saturday.

Calvet explained the investigation will be run by Spanish railway operator Renfe and the state railways infrastructure company Adif.

"I don't understand how a train can travel in the wrong direction down a track for so many kilometers... The automatic signaling, the exit from the station in Manresa, the communications between driver and the control room... all of this, whether automatic or manual, should have prevented the accident," said Calvet. Enditem

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