Black box may hold key to Spanish train disaster

Police will soon begin extracting information from the “black box” of a train that crashed last week, a Spanish court official said yesterday, potentially making clear why the driver failed to brake in time to stop the train from hurtling into a dangerous curve.

Francisco Garzon Amo faces multiple counts of negligent homicide for the country’s worst train accident in decades. The investigation has increasingly focused on him and his failure to brake, with a witness saying he told him seconds after the crash that he was going fast and tried to stop, but couldn’t.killing 79 people

The black box could clear up whether there was a mechanical or technical failure. Experts will start examining the black box today under the instruction of Judge Luis Alaez. Alaez charged Garzon on Sunday, but allowed him to leave custody without bail. He was driven from the court in a police car after dark, but it was not clear where he was taken.