Amtrak train derailments resulting in serious injury and death are hardly new. Just the last five years of Amtrak incidents resulting in serious injury includes:
- A 2011 wreck between an Amtrak train and a truck 70 miles east of Reno that killed six people and injured dozens
- October 2, 2012 A collision between an Amtrak train injuring 169 passengers derailing after colliding with a semitruck in California’s Central Valley.
- June 2014. An Amtrak train derailed, hit a vehicle and killed three people 24 miles southwest of Boston.
- March, 2015. More than 55 people were injured when an Amtrak train derailed after colliding with a tractor-trailer in Halifax, North Carolina.
- May, 2015. Amtrak train 188 was traveling at twice the legal speed limit as it entered a sharp curve and derailed near Philadelphia. Eight people were killed and more than 200 were injured. Seven passenger cars jumped the tracks, overturned, and were ripped apart.
- October 5, 2015. An Amtrak train headed to Vermont derailed, causing a passenger car to careen down a slope, injuring several people.
- March 2016. An Amtrak train derailed in Kansas sending five cars off the tracks and injuring more than 32 people.
- April 3, 2016. Two people were struck and killed by an Amtrak train, going over 100 mph, that derailed in Pennsylvania.
And now near Dupont, in Washington state, Amtrak passenger train 501 with a running between Seattle and Portland, derailed on a bridge over I5. Amtrak was using a faster route and rounding a curve like the Philadelphia Amtrak catastrophe that killed 8. In Washington, at least 3 people have been killed, and more than 70 are injured.
In this latest derailment, no collision with any other vehicle or obstacle is known to have taken place. However, Amtrak will, as they always do, deny that they are the cause of the incident – or any part of it. Indeed, early reports quote a railroad official saying “501 may have struck something before going off-track.” And there is the first defense.
Responsible railroad companies know they are required to take corners cautiously and have systems in place especially around blind curves, that detect objects on the tracks capable of causing a derailment. Even automobiles have collision avoidance technology.
We at Bishop legal know Amtrak will fight because we have been in court before against the railroad industry for train wrecks resulting in catastrophic injury to our clients.
Here’s a legal tip for you: Get an attorney who knows what they’re doing if you’ve been injured in this wreck. Get an attorney who files a lawsuit quickly on your behalf because there are going to be multiple claimants and you want your rights to be protected. Get an attorney who can show you that they have, in fact, fought a long hard battle to get the entirety of any “black box” recording device that trains have onboard.
At Bishop legal, we have fought forcefully against intense objections from railroad attorneys to obtain the black box that includes both audio and video recording. Hire an attorney who has employed railroad experts with the software or knowledge necessary to decode railroad recording devices. Railroad companies often use proprietary software that make it difficult for others to know the truth. We know, because we’ve been there.
At Bishop legal, we are very sorry that this tragedy has occurred and that people have been hurt and killed. We know the railroad companies are willing to deny and delay and cause even more pain to those wrongly injured. That’s why we’re here, and I’m delivering this message.
Our goal is to ease your pain, to stop Amtrak from denying its share of liability, and to fight for accountability when deadly errors are made, and to stop Amtrak from continued unsafe operation. We have a history of winning Multimillion-dollar cases against giant corporate defendants trying to avoid accountability.
Bishop Legal is here for you.
