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Posted by
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on Wed May 22 17:11:31 2013
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STAMFORD -- The two engineers and five other Metro-North Railroad workers injured in Friday's derailment and collision are considering filing lawsuits contending that subpar track repairs and inspections combined with engineering problems with the state's new fleet of Kawasaki M-8 rail cars might have caused the May 17 accident which injured 76, according to their attorney.
The seven Metro-North workers have hired George Cahill, a New Haven-based railroad law attorney to pursue damages for injuries suffered when an eastbound commuter train derailed near Bridgeport and was struck by a westbound train heading towards New York.
Recent track repairs in the area of the crash might have left the area rails in weak condition, Cahill said.
Prior to the accident, a joint bar, two pieces of rail bolted together, was ground down at the ends to make a plate and bolt assembly to secure them fit better, a possible contributor to the crash, Cahill said.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators have highlighted a break found in a section of rail where the accident occurred which they are trying to determine were broken before or after the crash, Cahill said.
Cahill said he did not know whether the piece of rail taken by federal investigators for testing in Washington, D.C. is the same as the one his clients have identified as being of concern.
"When they went out to do some repair out there they had to do some grinding," Cahill said. "We don't know if that caused the accident."
A second possible claim about shoddy repair might center on whether the rail broke because of the poor condition of some wooden track ties in the area, Cahill said. Workers contend that wooden ties in poor condition were fastened with twice the number of spikes as normal in an effort to keep them properly affixed.
Cahill said that another possible cause of the accident could be related to any design flaws in the state's new M-8 cars, an area also being considered by federal investigators.
Cahill said workers have complained the wheels on the new cars might be affixed to the trains too tightly causing them to fit improperly on the rails, possibly causing the eastbound train's derailment.
"We're looking at complaints about the new wheel sets being fit too tightly and causing the train to creep up the rail," Cahill said.
Cahill said both engineers driving the involved trains have been released from the hospital.
Cahill said the engineer of the westbound train told him he threw an emergency brake right after seeing the catenary wires on the adjacent track get pulled down and a thick cloud of dust and smoke just ahead.
"A moment after he saw the catenary wire come down he could not see the eastbound train derailed as he was going through all that dust, and debris in the air," Cahill said of the westbound engineer. "He had no idea what he was going to hit."
Cahill said that he believes the third car on the eastbound train was probably the first to derail.
"They are all pretty traumatized by the incident and it's also a very violent and frightening experience," Cahill said.
Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders declined to comment on the potential lawsuit.
Chris Silvera, a union official for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 808 which represents track workers said that track inspectors use a variety of methods to detect flaws and stressed parts of track from visual inspections on foot of by using so-called hi-rail trucks which are revamped highway trucks that can run on rails to assess any flaws.
Metro-North track inspectors are also generally assigned to the same area of track on a continual basis to preserve their knowledge of areas that need more scrutiny on an ongoing basis.
"It's our job to inspect the track and ensure it complies with Metro-North's standards which are stricter than the Federal Railroad Administration's," Silvera said.
Read more: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Metro-North-crews-consider-lawsuit-in-collision-4539449.php#ixzz2U3fRIlXD
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