FELA Lawyer News Blog

Archive for 2010

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

HUNT VALLEY, MD – The conductor of a light rail train was injured Tuesday morning, March 23, 2010 when a trailer truck collided with the train in Baltimore County, Maryland. The truck accident happened in Hunt Valley, near Cockeysville, where the railroad tracks intersect with Gilroy Road. The accident area is in the north part of the Baltimore metro region, 110 miles southwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and 63 miles north of Washington, DC.

The impact of the truck collision trapped the train conductor in the crushed lead rail car. The conductor has been identified as 51 year old Deborah Morton. Local emergency personnel responded to the truck accident scene and worked to extricate her.

Shortly before 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, March 23rd, a tractor trailer truck owned by Laurel, MD based John W. Ritter Trucking Company was headed north on Gilroy Road in Baltimore County, MD. The truck was driven by 53 year old Mark Szurek who was headed to the McCormick’s Hunt Plant in Hunt Valley, hauling a load of plastic containers. ... Read More

ALEXANDRIA, MO – Freight cars from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway BNSF derailed in Alexandria, Missouri on Saturday, March 27, 2010 at about 2:30 pm. The railway cars were carrying coal from Wyoming and were heading to the St. Louis area. The derailment involved 22 out of the 135 cars on the train that included 3 engines. Fourteen railway cars were mangled in the derailment.

22 cars involved in Alexandria, MO train derailment. Photo credit: Steve Bohnstedt/Herald-Whig

According to Steve Forsberg, a spokesman from the BNSF Railway, the cause of the derailment has not been determined. Forsberg is the general director of public affairs for BNSF. ... Read More

ROCK ISLAND COUNTY, IL – Andrew Schulte, a former Iowa Interstate Railroad train employee, was awarded $33 million in damages by a Rock Island County jury last Thursday for a tragic accident that occurred in a Rock Island rail yard in April 2007.

According to the lawsuit, Schulte was trying to pull a pin on a rail car while walking alongside a train on a switching lead. The lawsuit states that the pin lifter stuck, causing Schulte to trip and fall, at which point he was struck and run over by a rail car.

... Read More

WASHBURN, ND – The conductor of a train was killed after becoming trapped when two engines derailed and fell into the Turtle Creek about 3 miles south of Washburn, North Dakota. Washburn is located in central North Dakota about 40 miles north of Bismarck, 44 miles north of Mandan, 229 miles west of Fargo and 280 miles west of Grand Forks.

Scene of the fatal train derailment just south of Washburn, ND where the base of the tracks collapsed causing two engines to tip and roll over down the embankment of Turtle Creek.

The engines derailed after an embankment gave way from under the train. There were two railroad workers involved in the train accident. One died at the scene and the other was taken to a hospital in Bismarck where he was treated for a laceration. The body of the deceased railroad worker was removed from the scene of the accident about 4:30 pm. The names and ages of the two railroad workers have not been released. No other railroad workers were reported to have been involved in the accident. ... Read More

PITTSBURGH, PA -  Two trains heading in opposite directions collided on Tuesday, Mar 16, about 4 a.m. near South Braddock Avenue and Main Street, where North Versailles, North Braddock and East Pittsburgh meet, causing a derailment that killed 54 year old Union Railroad freight train engineer, Andrew Monheim, of Plum PA. Authorities are uncertain why the collision happened.

Photo shows derailment of Union Railroad. Photo Credit: WPXI.com

North Versailles police Chief Vincent DiCenzo Jr. told reporters that Monheim died when he was ejected from a northbound train hauling empty rail cars that struck a southbound train transporting iron ore pellets headed for U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson plant. ... Read More

MADISON COUNTY, WI – On Wednesday, March 17, A lawsuit was filed by Stephen S. Kawa, a former Norfolk Southern Railroad employee, against Norfolk Southern Railroad. The lawsuit claims that Kawa began working as a laborer for Norfolk Southern Railroad in 1978 and finished his career in 2009. Over the course of his 31 year employment, the former railroad worker claims he was assigned duties beyond his physical capabilities and subjected to numerous repetitive traumas which resulted in his multiple injuries.

Norfolk Southern Railroad Company. PHOTO: Businessweek.com

According to the complaint, Kawa also claims that on July 6, 2009, he sustained sustained permanent injuries to his neck, back and body after hitting his head on the roof of a truck.  ... Read More

EL MONTE, CA – A Union Pacific railroad worker was killed by a Metrolink train at the Temple Avenue crossing near Valley Boulevard and the 605 Freeway in El Monte, California. The train accident occurred Saturday morning, March 20, 2010 at about 9:20 am. El Monte is located about 13 1/2 miles east of Los Angeles, in southern California. In the accident, three passengers on the train were also injured, although their injuries were not reported as life threatening.

Site of the Metrolink train crash El Monte, CA that killed a Union Pacific railroad worker and injured three other passengers on the train. Photo Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

The deceased railroad worker, whose name has not been released, was on a railway crossing when the Union Pacific maintenance truck he was sitting in was struck by the Metrolink train. ... Read More