By, Rick Shapiro, Personal Injury Attorney
A MARC commuter train derailed at a Union Station yard, in Washington D.C. near Virginia (VA), Friday November 5 after colliding with an Amtrak switch engine pulling two rail cars. The accident injured seven people and caused rail delays for much of the day, reports The Washington Post.
Seven Amtrak workers and two other people were aboard the trains, six Amtrak employees were taken to the hospital with a wide range of injuries, thankfully though none was considered life-threatening. When a powerful piece of equipment like a train derails, usually the injuries are very severe. The workers were lucky to escape with only "minor" injuries.
One Amtrak engineer was thrown against the console in the locomotive and suffered a bruised chest, said Joe McHugh, Amtrak’s vice president for corporate communications.
The MARC train had seven cars. Four derailed, twisting at least one segment of track. An Amtrak locomotive was pulling a rail car and a privately owned passenger car with the owner and a man on board. One man injured his hand but declined treatment, Amtrak officials said.
It is still unknown what caused the trains to collide. Amtrak investigators will examine switches and tracks, interview the workers involved and look at dispatches from operations personnel.
We want to be a resource and help you in your time of need, so I encourage any railroad worker hurt while on the job to view our free guide, "A Railroad Worker’s Rights When Injured On the Job."
About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm (VA-NC law offices ) edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono service to consumers.
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