Bloodied, dazed and angry - how passengers' rail journey turned to disaster in Spain

The Spanish transport minister said the circumstances were "inexplicable".

According to regulations, under such circumstances, a train driver would be required to proceed at what is known as "sight speed" - about 40km/h (25mph), a speed that allows them to stop in time if they encounter an obstacle.

Officials will investigate what order the Renfe train got, if it was travelling at the usual speed for that section of track - "around 200km/h" according to the minister, and, more significantly, why did the operator not stop its journey when his screen would have displayed that another train on the same line was stationary.