According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, approximately 1,000 Americans are killed in train-related accidents every year. For those who live in the greater Chicago area, train accidents are a somewhat regular occurrence. In January, a 96-year-old woman narrowly avoided severe or fatal injuries when her vehicle was struck by a Metra train. Fortunately, the elderly driver was saved by two good samaritans and a Lombard police officer. Sadly, many people are not as fortunate in train collisions. If a member of your family was injured in a train-related collision, seek legal assistance immediately. 

Types of Train Accidents

Train collisions are usually devastating regardless of how they occur. Listed below are the most common forms of train collisions. 

In the midst of a winter with incredibly treacherous road conditions, commuters continue to look for alternative means of getting to work. Perhaps no alternative commuting strategy benefits from the dangers of winter driving more than commuter trains. But while commuting via rail is generally thought of as a much safer method of travel in comparison to driving, we have recently seen a number of disturbing crashes nationwide, ultimately resulting in fatalities. If you or a member of your family suffer an injury while riding on a commuter train, contact an experienced personal injury attorney today.

Recent Train Crashes Cause Concern

On December 18, 2017 a commuter train in Washington State went off the rails in the South Puget Sound area. The Amtrak train was making its inaugural trip on a new rail line designed to help commuters travel efficiently from Seattle to Portland. The train, traveling at excessive speeds, went off the rails as it approached a curve in the rail line. More than 100 passengers suffered injuries, and three of the passengers were fatally injured.

Just days ago, a passenger train traveling through South Carolina was wrongly diverted onto a side track and collided with a freight train on the tracks. The mistake resulted in a passenger injury count well over 100. Two passengers tragically suffered fatal injuries during the collision.

Train crossings can be incredibly dangerous for drivers and pedestrians. Trains have massive size and weight in comparison to cars. In fact, a train hitting a car is comparable to a car hitting a can of soda.

Due to this huge size difference, train accidents are 40 times more likely to result in someone’s death than car accidents.

The state of Illinois has over 7,000 miles of train tracks, and it ranks second in the United States in fatalities involving collisions between trains and vehicles and seventh in fatalities involving pedestrians.

According to statistics from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), there is an accident which involves a train and a vehicle every 90 minutes in this country. The majority of these accidents take place at railroad crossings and typically these locations are less than 25 miles from the vehicle operator’s home. Tragically, in most of these cases, the crash is a fatal one for vehicle occupants. In fact, a person involved in a train/vehicle crash is 30 times more likely to die than if they were in a vehicle/vehicle crash.

A train does not have the same ability as a vehicle to stop suddenly. For example, it takes a 150-car freight train approximately 1 ½ miles to come to a stop. Passenger trains – which usually have much fewer cars than freight trains – also take over a mile to come to a stop.

Although there has been a large initiative by both the federal government and railroad companies to educate the public on the dangers of ignoring railroad crossing warnings and attempting to “beat the train” before it passes, there are a great many railroad crossing accidents which occur because of negligent actions on the railroad’s part, such as faulty equipment or employee error.