The driver of the train that crashed in north-western Spain, killing 79 people on board, appeared in court and been formally charged with 79 counts of reckless homicide.

52-year-old Francisco Garzon gave over two hours of testimony in the court in the city of Santiago de Compostella before he was released on bail.

The examining judge Luis Alaez formally charged Garzon with "79 counts of homicide and numerous offences of bodily harm, all of them committed through professional recklessness," the court said in a statement.

The train is reported to have been travelling at more than twice the speed limit when it crashed on Wednesday. A widely-circulated photo from the scene showed Mr Garzon being lead from the scene having suffered a head injury.

He had been in hospital until Saturday when he was immediately arrested and brought to a local police station. 

The Editor of The Spain Report, Matthew Bennett, says at this point, the driver isn't receiving much adverse attention from the public. 

Reports that emergency services were 'confused' at the scene

Meanwhile, reports in Spain's leading daily newspaper, El País, has published documents which they say reveal "confusion and tardiness" of emergency responders. 

The newspaper says it took two hours to issue a Code 2 alert following the disaster and it took over an hour and a half for the regional disaster coordination unit to arrive at the scene.

It also points to reports that helicopters, called to help in the rescue efforts, were late and locals were forced to pull survivors from the wreckage before emergency services arrived at the scene.