The safest seat to sit on in a train: How to give yourself the best chance of surviving a train crash

Safety experts have shared top tips on train safety after a fatal railway crash in Spain killed 69 people, including where the safest place is in an emergency.Three carriages derailed when a train travelling from Madrid to Seville collided with a stationary one on the same route near the city of Toledo shortly before 9am yesterday. The collision left 69 dead and dozens injured in scenes described as 'apocalyptic' by surviving passengers.Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente told reporters an 'inexplicable' order from a central command unit was to blame after a security system failed.Speaking to the Daily Mail, Craig Delahaye, Associate Director, Legal Operations, National Accident Helpline, said: 'Travellers must remember that such incidents are vanishingly rare, but when they do occur, knowing where to position yourself in the carriage could be the difference between a few scrapes and much more serious injuries.'As a general rule, I'd suggest avoiding the front and rear carriages. These will bear the immediate brunt of any collision and will also come off the tracks first in a derailment.'The middle of the train is normally safer as it is buffered from the accident zone by surrounding carriages, but it is not a guarantee of safety.'Where you sit within your selected carriage can also have an effect on the outcomes in the case of an accident.' Investigators survey debris amongst the damaged carriages of a train crash between two high-speed trains A damaged carriage is removed with heavy machinery at the site of a train crash between two high-speed trainsMr Delahaye added that if a train overturns, most people 'presume it is best to be on the downwards side of the carriage.' However, this would mean that 'people and luggage will fall on you,' he explains. 'It is hard to say whether this is better than being one of those falling people yourself, however, one thing is certain: if the train begins to come off the tracks, you should adopt an airplane-style brace position.'The sideways-facing seats, normally found by the doors, are also not a good choice when it comes to safety. These are the most exposed in the carriage, meaning that debris, or you, will fall the furthest in the event of a derailment.'The next advice will anger the average commuter squeezed in like a sardine; however, it is best to sit rather than stand,' he adds. Mr Delahaye notes that he is 'not a specialist in train crash investigations,' adding: 'I am a professional health and safety consultant and I investigate all types of workplace-based accidents.''However, I read extensively of all accidents and having started my career in safety in October 1988 I have significant experience and background knowledge. Here are my tips for a train journey risk assessment. I'm a specialist in risk assessment, but my advice cannot take priority over anything provided by the rail companies,' he says. The death toll of the fatal crash in Spain is expected to rise as questions remain over the technical room 'error' which caused the smash. All trains on a stretch of 63km had been drawn to a halt due to a computer malfunction, but central command told a Renfe train to restart its journey without any speed restrictions.A little more than 20 minutes later, at 8.53am, it smashed into the back of the stationary Iryo train 100 miles south of Madrid, leaving carriages totally destroyed and derailed. It was reported that the locomotive was capable of travelling at speeds of 185mph. A passenger rescued from one of the trains involved in a collision arrives in Urda, Spain Two people wait for updates outside a support center for relatives of missing victims in UrdaTransport minister Mr Puente said the control centre 'had more than enough time to verify the error, and they did not fix it.'He added: 'The decision to resume traffic, while that system had not been restored, belongs to the control centre.'The tragedy came less than a year after 46 people died in January when a train jumped the track and hit an incoming one in southern Spain.That smash raised widespread concern about the safety of the nation's railways, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declaring the situation 'not acceptable' following Wednesday's incident.He said Spain would observe three days of mourning beginning today, while opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo suspended campaigning but said: 'Spain has the right to know what is going on with its infrastructure.'Surviving passengers described horrific scenes following the crash yesterday morning.Sebastian Herrero, 46, who was travelling on the Iryo train, said he was 'thrown against the seats' when the trains collided, and described how he was 'in the air for about four or five seconds', which felt like 'a lifetime'.He added: 'There are three carriages of the Iryo, the three at the end, from which they keep taking people out and putting sheets on them. Corpses. It's apocalyptic.'In those carriages, I find it very hard to believe there are any living people. It's a twisted mass of metal. It's as if they had planted a bomb.' A Red Cross volunteer comforts a woman outside a support center for relatives of missing victims in UrdaOne carriage caught fire and smoke was still pouring from the mangled wreckage as emergency responders reached the scene. It emerged last night that Fatima Banez, Spain's former employment minister, was among the dead.Horrifying photographs showed a carriage impaled on a long steel rail that was forced through the floor and out of the roof.The crash came the day before a 24-hour work stoppage at Renfe by Spain's biggest train drivers' union.Earlier this month, the union said: 'Our goal is to change the system and make it safer. We demand real and definitive technical solutions to the safety and reliability issues that have long plagued our rolling stock.'Speaking from the crash site, Prime Minister Sanchez said: 'The whole of Spain is grieving,' before adding that the authorities would determine the cause of the accident and take action if wrongdoing is uncovered.He added: 'If there has been negligence, it will be known.'