There are approximately 3,000 train accidents that result in about

1,000 deaths each year.  Even a “minor” incident with a train can cause

a catastrophic injury or death due to the massive size and weight of a locomotive.

 

Train accident lawsuits are complicated, often involving multiple responsible parties, and train accidents are subject to different laws, standards, and statutes of limitations than most vehicle accident lawsuits.

A train accident can affect just one person, such as when someone slips off a platform and is run over by a train, or they can affect an entire community such as with a toxic chemical spill.

 

When passenger trains derail, there are often hundreds of victims.  You may remember the train collision in California in September 2008 in which a Metrolink engineer was texting on his cell phone right before the train collided with another train.  Twenty-five people were killed and over a hundred people were injured.

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Train accident victims can include:

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• Train passengers

• Pedestrians and bystanders

• Drivers and passengers of other vehicles

• Railroad workers

Train accidents can be caused by a number of factors including:

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• Derailments

• Train/train collisions

• Train/car collisions

• Railroad crossing accidents

• Railroad accidents