Massive train crashes seem the dramatic stuff of movies and novels, billowing steam engines destined for disaster, fixed irreversibly on track to collide. Indeed, in the 19th century train companies used head-on train collisions as a publicity stunt.
The Crush Crash in Waco, Texas drew so many observers that Waco became, for one night, the second largest city in the state. Even this staged event ended in disaster, however, when a boiler burst and the flying debris killed two in the crowd. Unfortunately, this less-than-dramatic conclusion represents the reality of train wrecks, and these days that reality is represented in lawsuits as soon as the smoke clears.
Perhaps modern day railroads do not encounter anything so catastrophic as the rerouted steam locomotive that caused a mountain to collapse in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, but train crashes are still a major problem in the United States. Train crashes injure more than 500 people every year, though deaths remain relatively rare.
Aside from catastrophic collisions, railroad deaths usually occur at crossings, where the train’s course crosses the path of car traffic. The chances of dying in a car-train crash are ten times more likely than dying in a regular car collision.
Settlements with railroad companies for crashes can amount in the millions of dollars, but this just reflects the severity of injuries incurred in such accidents. Trains are currently set up in compartments to reduce the distance people would fly in the event of a major collision.
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accident lawyer article by Anna Henningsgaard.The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, not necessarily those of the publisher of this website. We are not attorneys and do not give legal advice.