New Report: Low Metro-North Railroad Safety Standards May Lead to Injuries | Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp

Given the choice to arrive somewhere safely but a few minutes late or on time and injured, most people would choose to be a few minutes late.  A panel convened by New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority says Metro-North Railroad has sacrificed safety for on-time performance.  The railroad has had a number of recent accidents including a derailment that killed four people in the Bronx.  The Federal Railroad Administration also scrutinized Metro-North’s safety procedures.

Putting profits above safety has been a long running trend in the railroad industry.  As Virginia (VA) railroad injury attorneys we have seen how the railroad industry has lobbied lawmakers to push safety deadlines farther and farther into the future. One safety technology available now that may have stopped this derailment and countless others is Positive Train Control or PTC.  It is designed to automatically stop a train before it is able to run a red signal or get itself into other dangerous situations. This is an improvement over the signaling systems that are currently in place, which are able to warn train operators of danger, but still allow the possibility of accidents.

Because of the lack of concern for safety railroad workers as well as passengers have fell victim to accidents that may have otherwise been avoided if the railroad industry cared as much about safety as they do about profits.  Since 2000, our personal injury law firm lawyers have obtained many record or multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts including those involving accidents and derailments, but please keep in mind every case is different and stands on its own merits and past results do not govern what may happen with any particular case.

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