Railroad Accident

Brien Roche

On Tuesday, August 25, 2020 a man was struck and killed by a train.  The crash occurred on the tracks running along New York Avenue in NE Washington.  The crash occurred at 12:40 p.m. near 9th Street, NE.  The pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene.  The train involved was an Amtrak train.  Amtrak said that there were 105 passengers onboard.  None of them were injured.  Also all of the passengers and crew were transferred to a new train.

How Will I Be Paid For My Railroad Accident Losses

When you are involved in a crash in Northern Virginia you have a right to know who will pay your treatment bills, who will pay your lost income, how will you support your family during your period of recovery and what other rights you have as far as a money recovery. Your damages may consist of:

• Treatment bills
• Lost wages
• Pain and suffering
• Property damage

How We Can Help With Your Railroad Accident

If you’ve been involved in an crash that causes serious injury then you need to retain counsel.  My practice is to tell clients not to even think about settling their injury claim until such time as they have reached what doctors call “maximum medical improvement”.  This is the point where either you have returned to your pre injury health or you have gotten as well as you’re going to get.  At that point you can think about settling. 

Railroad Crossing Accidents

Railroad crossing crashes require a detailed knowledge of how railroads operate.  Reports will be filed not only with the local police department but with the Federal Railroad Association and the National Transportation Safety Board.  Those reports must be obtained.

Also you must obtain not only the name of the railroad but who owns, controls and has the right-of-way of the tracks and who owns the property next to the tracks.  The car or truck involved in the crash needs to be preserved.

Standards for Railroad Crossing Crashes

What standards apply to the crash and to the crossing devices may be found in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. Also the American Association of State Highway Officials’ Geometric Design Standards may be helpful. Furthermore any prior crashes at this crossing can be found through a FOIA request to the Federal Railroad Administration.  That agency numbers each crossing. The number can be found on the crossbuck pole or on one of the warning devices at the crossing.  Furthermore that number will allow you to gain access to any crashes at that crossing, federal funding for that crossing and other data.

The Railroad Crossing Scene of Crash

In handling railroad crossing cases you must retain a surveyor to survey the area around the crash for a distance of probably a half mile.

Also you need to obtain from the railroad:

• reports of any prior crashes or notices relating to that crossing
• operating instructions and manuals governing railroad employees
• any event recorder printouts
• any information relating to track profiles
• train braking system information

Contact Fairfax, Virginia Attorney Brien Roche for questions about your railroad accident case.

Also see vehicles struck and related pages for info on Virginia case law on railroad crossing cases.
Also for more information about railroad cases see the pages on Wikipedia.

In addition for more information about your car crashes see the other pages on this site.