Railroad Accidents: Railroad accidents occur for a number of different reasons, including car collisions, collisions with other trains, derailments, and railroad workers being injured on the job.
It is estimated that a train collision or a derailment occurs about every 90 minutes in the United States. With 200,000 miles of railroad track, over 1,000,000 freight cars, 20,000 locomotives and almost 90,000 track miles of signal/train control systems, train accidents occur 3,000 times per year and cost about 1,000 lives annually.
Train accident assessments are complex undertakings and the damage control enormous. All too often the outcome is devastating and train accidents cause serious injuries and claim the lives of sometimes hundreds of people. In the event of a train accident there is a number of factors that come into play.
Abnormal Operational Situations
- Yard skate slides and fails to stop vehicles
- Object or equipment is laying on track
- Vandalism to track
- Fire caused by construction on track
- Emergency application to avoid accident
- Automatic hump retarder fails to slow car
- Interference/failure by non-railroad employee
- Vandalism of track equipment
Environment Conditions
- Extreme environmental condition/severe winds
- Snow, ice, mud, coal, sand etc on track
- Extreme velocity
- Highway-Rail Grade Crossing
- Highway user violating highway-rail grade crossing traffic law
- Highway user unawareness due to environmental factors
- Highway user deliberately disregards crossing warning devices
- Highway user impairment due to alcohol/drugs
- Malfunction of train warning devices
Loading Procedures
- Improperly loaded container on flat car
- Overloaded car
- Load falls from train
- Load shifts and causes imbalance
- Trailer/container tie down equipment improperly applied
Still, this is not the complete list of investigating railroad crossing accidents. There are several other reasons as to why a medium of transportation, which serves millions of people on a daily basis is all of the sudden able to turn into a deathtrap for hundreds of people.
If you or a loved one have been injured due to a train accident, it is crucial to seek medical attention in order to monitor and/or adequately treat your injuries. At the same time, we advise to speak to one of our train accident attorneys to ensure your legal rights and to handle the claim within an effective time manner.
Screened California Rail Road Accident Attorney Referrals 661-310-7999
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