You may hope a train car remains uninterrupted on a track and gets you from Point A to Point B safely. However, due to external factors or internal elements, a train car may unexpectedly derail and result in an accident. Without further introduction, please follow along to find out how seriously you should take a train derailment incident and how one of the proficient train derailment injury lawyers at Hildebrand McLeod & Nelson LLP can see if you have a viable legal case on your hands.
How often do train derailments occur in the United States?
You may not hear about train derailments often on the news. However, according to the Federal Railroad Administration, there were a reported 1,164 train derailments in the United States in the year 2022 alone. This calculates to about three to four incidents per day. Understandably, this frequency is likely more than you are comfortable with. But this is because many factors may contribute to an ultimate derailment. Examples are as follows:
- A train track may be improperly aligned, and a train car may lose contact with it.
- A train car may have faulty brakes, axles, or wheels that have a lapse in function.
- A train conductor may miscommunicate with an oncoming train on the same track.
- A train track may be obstructed by an external object (i.e., vehicle, debris, animal, etc).
- A train track may be made unstable due to serious inclement weather conditions.
How seriously should I take a train derailment incident?
While the concept of train derailments sounds severe, there are certain instances in which they are only minor. This is if, for example, such an incident takes place in a rail yard, where a train car is moving at a relatively slow speed. As a railroad worker, hopefully, your bodily injuries are minimal to none in this case. But more realistically, your injuries may still hinder your ability to perform your work, return to work, or otherwise cause unnecessary damage. If so, you may want to look into filing a Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) claim against your negligent employer.
That said, derailments of passenger trains are inherently more catastrophic. This is because a train car is likely traveling fast. What’s worse is if it collided with an outside force at this high speed. With that being said, if you were an innocent passenger aboard a derailed train car, you may have solid grounds to pursue a personal injury claim against the negligent railroad company. If you had a loved one who sadly did not survive this disaster, you may be eligible to take on a wrongful death claim and seek justice on their behalf.
We can sympathize with how daunting this whole legal process may be for you. Well, lucky for you, the team at Hildebrand McLeod & Nelson LLP has successfully gone through this countless times before. So please, retain the services of one of the talented train derailment injury lawyers today.
