[2] The train's data recorder showed that it was traveling at over twice the posted speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph) when it entered a curve on the track.

[7] The Class 730 also has two generator cars that allow its electric traction motors to function on non-electrified lines, but that bring its weight per axle well over the normal value for high speed trains.

[8] At 20:41 CEST (18:41 UTC) on 24 July 2013,[1][9] the passenger train, on an express route from Madrid to Ferrol, derailed on a section of conventional track at the end of the Olmedo-Zamora-Galicia line, at Angrois in Santiago de Compostela.

[10] Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called an emergency ministerial meeting, saying, "I want to express my affection and solidarity with the victims of the terrible train accident in Santiago.

[18][19] On 9 August, the Spanish government announced that there would be a nationwide review of all railway lines, their signalling and the route knowledge of train drivers.

[20] Exactly one year after the incident, a train on the same line and service was received with applause from local people and the relatives of the dead or injured ones in the accident.

[24] Multiple media outlets reported that, in 2012, a year before the accident, Garzón Amo had boasted on his personal Facebook page about the high speeds his trains would travel.

[25][26] One Facebook posting, reported by Spanish media, attributed to Garzón Amo, stated: "It would be amazing to go alongside police and overtake them and trigger off the speed camera", accompanied by a photo of a train's speedometer clocking 200 km/h (124 mph).

The bend where the accident happened is the first curve reached by a Santiago-bound train coming from Ourense after an 80-kilometre (50 mi) stretch of high-speed track that is limited to 200 km/h (124 mph).

[31] Garzón told the investigating magistrate, Luis Alaez, that he suffered a "lapse of concentration" as he approached the curve when the train should have been slowed to 80 km per hour.

3, Luis Aláez, ordered the Judicial Police to question the train driver, Francisco José Garzón Amo, as a defendant.

[39] On July 28, 2013, he testified before the judge in Santiago, admitting human error, stating that he braked too late after mistakenly thinking he was in another section of the track.

[44] In May 2016, the Provincial Court of La Coruña ordered the case to be reopened to investigate whether there were additional responsibilities related to the safety of the Santiago-Orense high-speed rail line.

The prosecution sought four years in prison for the train driver and Adif’s Director of Safety, accusing them of 80 counts of homicide, 145 of injury, and one of property damage, all due to gross professional negligence.