A preliminary report reveals the rail was likely broken before the Iryo train derailed and struck a Renfe train in one of Europe\u2019s worst crashes.<\/b>
\nAn investigation into last weekend\u2019s high-speed train collision in Spain that killed 45 people suggests the track was cracked before the catastrophe, according to a preliminary report published on Friday.
The shell-shocked country is searching for answers to one of Europe\u2019s deadliest such accidents this century, which has raised doubts about the safety of the world\u2019s second-largest high-speed rail network.
The disaster struck in the southern region of Andalusia on Sunday evening when a train run by the private firm Iryo derailed and crossed onto the adjacent track, smashing into an oncoming service operated by the state company Renfe.
An inspection of the Iryo train \u201cdetected notches in the tread of the right-sided wheels\u201d of four carriages, said the preliminary report by the CIAF rail accident investigation committee.
\u201cThese notches in the wheels and the deformation observed in the track are compatible with the fact that the track was cracked,\u201d it wrote in what it called a \u201cworking hypothesis\u201d.<\/p>\n