Articles Posted in Train Accidents

Five people were injured in a Metrolink versus freight train collision in Rialto on November 20, 2008 – the second such accident in less then three months. The 11/20/08 crash was far less serious than the catastrophic head-on collision in Chatsworth in September that killed 25 and injured hundreds. According to this Los Angeles Times news report, Thursday’s accident occurred at about 11:30 a.m. when an eastbound Metrolink train hit the end of a westbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway train. The freight train was pulling onto a siding from a main track just west of the Rialto train station when the accident occurred.

Five passengers were sent to local hospitals with complaints of pain. Officials are still trying to figure out how this collision could have happened. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad officials say their engineer had been given the go-ahead either by a signal or a Metrolink dispatcher. The freight train was traveling from Barstow to Rialto. The Metrolink locomotive sideswiped the 96th car of the 102 cars on the freight train. In the Chatsworth crash, investigators determined that the engineer had missed the signal most likely because he was texting some young train enthusiasts, seconds before the head-on collision.
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Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific — two large freight railroads that share tracks with Metrolink — have pledged to install advanced track safety measures by the year 2012, the Los Angeles Times reported on October 9, 2008. This decision comes about a month after the catastrophic Chatsworth Metrolink commuter train crash that left 25 people dead and about 135 injured.

The two railroads say they will be installing positive train control systems on their tracks in the next three years, although a complete rollout may take longer. Positive train control systems basically combine digital communications with global positioning system (GPS) technology to monitor train locations and speeds. If engineers miss signals or cannot stop the train in time, an electronic device in the train’s cab will automatically apply the brakes.
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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board of Directors unanimously voted on Thursday in favor of a series of actions meant to improve rail safety in Los Angeles County, according to this NBC News report. These measures include using $5 million from Metro funds to pay for an automatic train stop system to prevent head-on collisions like the catastrophic Metrolink crash this month, which killed 26 and injured more than 135 commuters. The MTA board also aims to get $97 million from the 2006 California approved Trade Corridor Improvement Funds to make rail safety improvements.

MTA board members also reportedly made a series of recommendations to the Metrolink board to improve safety for commuters. Those recommendations include installing automatic train stop technology, doubling up engineers and putting video cameras in locomotives. Metrolink officials have also said that they are looking to install the safety technology even as they wait to get funding for the “positive train control” (PTC) technology, which would have prevented the fatal Chatsworth collision.
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The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on Thursday passed an emergency order banning all train operators from using cell phones and other personal electronic devices while on duty. According to a Sept. 18 Associated Press news report, the decision to ban came less than a week after the Chatsworth Metrolink train crash, which killed 26 people and injured at least 135.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) who looked into Metrolink engineer Robert Sanchez’s cell phone records said they did discover that he was texting on duty on the day of the catastrophic accident. Another Associated Press report states that NTSB officials are still trying to pin down the exact times when Sanchez was texting.

But they have said that a few teenage train enthusiasts received a text message from Sanchez minutes before the accident occurred. Sanchez reportedly ran the train through a red light, crashing head-on into a Union Pacific freight train. Thursday’s order from the PUC will temporarily ban the use of cell phones by all California railroad employees while on the job. The Commission will determine at a later date whether to make this ban permanent.
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The first claim in the Chatsworth Metrolink train crash came Monday from the family of Aida Magdaleno, a 19-year-old California State University, Northridge student, who was one of 25 people killed. According to recent news reports, the claim filed by Magdaleno’s parents and siblings alleged that Metrolink failed to use safety mechanisms available and protect commuters. The claim also states Metrolink could have easily prevented this train crash had they installed a collision avoidance system, a rail safety technology that has been available for the last 30 years.

Metrolink officials have attributed the crash to the train’s engineer not stopping for a red light. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators are looking into whether the engineer may have been text messaging some train enthusiasts at the time of the crash and missed the red light. But NTSB officials have also said, in no uncertain terms, that Metrolink should have used modern warning and control devices.

According to this CBS report, NTSB officials said they have long been urging Metrolink to install Positive Train Control (PTC) systems that use Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) systems to monitor train locations and speeds. With this system, if engineers ignore signals, the electronic devices automatically put on the brakes. These technologies, federal officials say, would prevent head-on collisions such as Friday’s catastrophic wreck.
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With the first claim filed in the catastrophic Chatsworth Metrolink train accident and many more to come, legal experts around the country are already wondering if it will test a 1997 U.S. law, which caps passengers’ damage claims in railroad accidents at $200 million. According to this Bloomberg News report, the cap will certainly become an issue in this case because of the high number of casualties and serious injuries. So far 26 people have died and more than 135 have been injured with 40 having suffered critical injuries.

The law places a $200 million cap on “the aggregate allowable awards to all rail passengers” from any single rail accident. That includes punitive damages. Although that 1997 law was part of a bill reauthorizing Amtrak, it covers all rail carriers in the country.
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Metrolink officials, in a rare move Saturday, admitted blame for the gruesome Chatsworth train accident that occurred on September 12th. Their train engineer’s failure to stop at a red light signal was the reason the Simi Valley-bound Metrolink train collided head-on with a Union Pacific freight train, they said. Our blog’s source is this Los Angeles Times report.

This two train collision has already been classified as the worst Southern California train accident in more than 50 years, and has left 25 people dead and more than 135 injured – 40 of them critically. Metrolink’s fatality record is now one of the country’s worst.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials are saying something different then Metrolink officials. The NTSB are accident investigation pros. They know it’s too early to pinpoint the cause or assign blame. Federal officials say they are going to “reserve their judgment” until they complete the investigation. Local rail workers unions are also calling Metrolink’s quick assignment of blame “terribly premature.”

Although officials are being cautious about what they say, there is no question that the crux of the investigation and the most pressing question is how the Metrolink engineer could have missed the red signal. The engineer also died in the train crash. He was with Veolia Transportation and had previously worked with Amtrak for over 10 years.

NTSB investigators are also looking into a report about a group of teenage train enthusiasts who’d received a text message from the Metrolink engineer minutes before the collision. The two trains, which were involved in Friday’s head-on metrolink collision, routinely passed each other every day near Chatsworth.
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Suggestions For Survivors and Families

The Metrolink passenger train that crashed head-on into a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth, California in the San Fernando Valley yesterday, September 12th, 2008, is still being searched this morning by rescue crews using heavy machinery in the hopes of finding more survivors.

At the time that this blog article was published, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that at least 24 people have been killed and more than 135 of the trains 225 passengers have been injured. Over 100 passengers have been transported to hospitals, 60 by ambulance and 40 by helicopter according to the same report. The Los Angeles City Fire Department has reported that 45 people sustained critical injuries.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa confirmed the number of dead at a Saturday morning news conference near the scene of the deadly crash. He also said more than 80 of the injured were in hospitals.

This morning Mario Rueda a Los Angeles City Fire official stated that the likelihood of anyone remaining alive in the wreckage of the derailed trains is very remote according to KTLA News. The same news report stated that officials expect the death toll to mount as the rescue effort and clean up continue.

Legal Issues For Survivors and The Families of the Deceased

Attend to the needs of the injured and make appropriate arrangements for the deceased. Your legal rights are already being looked into by my law firm and other personal injury law firms like ours throughout Southern California that have experience in railroad accident cases as well as a number of governmental agencies. There is nothing survivors and the families of the deceased need to do immediately regarding preserving their personal injury rights to compensation for their injuries and losses or investigating the train accident itself. Attend to the medical, emotional and spiritual needs of family members first.

Medical expenses for survivors and the deceased should be charged to whatever medical insurance, either private or through employment or government programs are available, before paying cash out of pocket (other than deductibles and co-pays). In most cases, I would suggest not paying cash out of pocket for medical expenses due to this train accident until consulting with a knowledgeable train accident attorney about your rights and options, if paying the expenses will cause a financial hardship. Some expenses may not be your financial obligation to pay. Some may be covered through various forms of insurance. All will eventually be recoverable from those agencies responsible for the train collision.

Keep track of all expenses and losses incurred. Keep receipts. Keep notes of hardships, challenges, suffering and out-of-pocket expenses for later claims. Many claimants will use a calendar to make daily notes in order that nothing is forgotten and the full measure of damages can be recovered.

Burial and funeral expenses are recoverable in a wrongful death action against those legally responsible for the death of a family member. Such expenses are traditionally paid in advance of services and long before any financial recovery is received from those responsible for a loved one’s death.

Lost income due to injuries caused sustained in the Chatsworth train collision are recoverable from the parties at fault along with all other traditional California personal injury “damages”, such as “pain & suffering”, emotional upset, scaring, disfigurement, therapy, prescription medication, out-of-pocket expenses and so on.

A wrongful death claim is available to the next of kin and the estate of those fatally injured in this train accident. Economic and non-economic damages can be recovered. Next of kin include family members such as a spouse, child, parent and siblings, in that order. If a parent died, the surviving spouse, children and any one receiving financial assistance from the decedent have claims. A plaintiff in a wrongful death claim may recover funeral and burial expenses, loss of income from the decedent, the decedents’ medical expenses, loss of household support, loss of relationship, mental anguish and suffering. The surviving spouse is entitled compensation for loss of the relationship, known as “loss of consortium”.
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About 4:30 p.m. today a Metrolink commuter train collided with a freight train in Chatsworth killing at least six people and injuring many more. According to various online and television news sources the Metrolink train was carrying as many as 350 rush hour passengers when it slammed into a freight rain in San Fernando Valley. Firefighters are still pulling commuters from the crumpled passenger cars as I watch their efforts on television.

Attention at the moment is focused on getting everyone out of the mangled cars. Less seriously injured passengers can be seen on both sides of the train. Some milling around and others sitting, they all appear to be in shock. The engine of the Union Pacific freight train engine can be seen laying on its side with the rest of the train bunched up behind it.

At the moment there is no declared cause for the train wreck. There is nothing in the photos, videos or news reports that hints at any cause outside of the negligent operation of the trains themselves.

A jury in Hinds County, Mississippi decided that the Illinois Central Railway must pay $1.97 million to a California couple for injuries they suffered four years ago in an Amtrak train accident in that state. According to this news report on Clarionledger.com,Sheila Doyle Lortz, 58, of Murphys, California, suffered back and head injuries and now suffers from chronic pain after a derailment near the Madison-Yazoo county line in Kearney Park, Mississippi. Her husband, Charles Lortz, suffered minor injuries.

The couple was traveling in an observation car when the train derailed. The train had left New Orleans and was headed to Chicago when the railroad accident happened. Many others who were injured in the derailment also filed lawsuits, but the couple’s was the first one to go to trial. The train had derailed on the same tracks where a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in 1997, forcing the evacuation of 4,000 area residents. Three other freight trains have derailed on those tracks within that five-mile stretch, once in 1986 and two times in 1994.
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