FELA Lawyer News Blog

Archive for April, 2010

ROANOKE, VA – A Roanoke HAZMAT team was called to the scene after a Norfolk Southern railcar released vapors on Tuesday, April 6.

Roanoke firefighters closed a 14-block stretch of Shenandoah Avenue when the railcar in the adjacent Norfolk Southern yard released a gaseous irritant into the air, authorities said. The Roanoke HAZMAT team blocked adjacent Shenandoah Ave. ... Read More

LEE, MA – Seven Housatonic Railroad freight cars derailed in Lee, Massachusetts on Monday, March 29, 2010 around 8 p.m. Two of the freight cars tipped over onto their sides, one of them that was loaded with lumber fell into the Housatonic River.

Seven freight cars derailed at the Pine Street crossing in Lee, Massachusetts on Monday, March 29, 2010. Photo credit: Massachusetts Department of Fire Services Hazmat Team.

Lee is in western Massachusetts, about 125 miles west of Boston, about 42 miles northwest of Springfield, about 105 miles west of Framingham and about 91 miles west of Worcester. ... Read More

HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS – Gordon &amp Elias, LLP, FELA lawyers, represent a Victoria, Texas railroad employee who sustained a lower back injury due to the negligence of Union Pacific Railroad.

The plaintiff is a 34 year-old machinist who was working for Union Pacific Railroad around Vanderbilt, Texas near mile post 240.

The incident occurred on October 7, 2009. The plaintiff was traveling northbound on the track from Placedo to Vanderbilt, Texas with a tamper machine following behind being operated by another employee of Union Pacific. ... Read More

LOS ANGELES, CA – Metrolink conductors and engineers are objecting to  an agreement between Metrolink and its new operator, Amtrak because it would require crews to pass personality tests in order to keep their jobs.

Metrolink - Southern California Regional Commuter Rail Service

Two railroad unions are objecting to the agreement and are threatening a boycott of the new personality-profiling tests that are being required in the wake of the disastrous Chatsworth crash in 2008 that killed 25 people. ... Read More

GLADSTONE, VA – A CSX train carrying coal derailed around 12:45 a.m. on Thursday, April 1, 2010 in Gladstone, Virginia just south of Norwood. Norwood is located in the central part of the state about 180 miles northwest of Norfolk, about 85 miles west of Richmond, and about 34 miles northeast of Lynchburg.

A CSX train carrying coal derailed just after midnight Thursday morning along Norwood Road in Nelson County, Virginia. Photo credit: Lee Luther Jr.

In the incident, 22 cars that were carrying coal overturned when a train belonging to CSX jumped the tracks and overturned. The mishap occurred south of Variety Mills Road along a section of track that runs alongside Norwood Road. Coal spilled within 500 feet of a tributary of the James River and, according to officials, the coal spill did contaminate the waterway.  ... Read More

WATERLOO, IN – On Friday evening, March 26, 2010, a train on the way to Michigan derailed in Waterloo, Indiana and spilled 5500 tons of coal. Waterloo is located in the north eastern part of the state about 152 miles north east of Indianapolis and about 25 miles north of Fort Wayne.

View of Friday's train derailment in Waterloo, IN from the intersection of Center St and Van Vleek. Photo credit: Freda Dickey

Thirty eight Norfolk Southern cars derailed in the mishap. According to a company spokesman, the train was headed from Chicago, IL to Monroe, MI. Although there is no official word on the cause of the accident, the Waterloo town board president said that the cause may have been due to a broken axle on one of the train cars. A spokesperson from Norfolk-Southern could not confirm this, however. ... Read More