Amtrak

Amtrak Sues Owner of Truck Involved in Missouri Collision

Two legal actions have  been submitted in the wake of a deadly train accident in Missouri.
The Amtrak Southwest Chief Train 4 was bound for Chicago from Los Angeles when it struck a dump truck at a crossway in Medon, simply over 100 miles northeast of Kansas City, on June 27. A number of train cars turned on their sides throughout the event with over 275 travelers on board.

The guest railway service has actually taken legal action against the owners of the truck associated with the crash after train operators reported that the motorist, Billy Dean Barton II, might have seen the train coming and “recklessly crossed the track.” Barton passed away following the accident.

Amtrak is looking for $75,000 from MS Contracting, the contracting business that owned the car.

“Despite the fact that it was unsafe, careless and reckless to do so because of the clearly visible approaching Amtrak Train 4, Barton failed to yield the right of way to the approaching Amtrak Southwest Chief Train 4,” states the lawsuit obtained by Business Insider.

Amtrak described the business “negligently, carelessly and recklessly failed to properly train and supervise its employees, including Bill Barton, causing the collision and derailment of Amtrak Train 4.”

Amtrak’s claim comes one day after Barton’s widow, Erin, submitted a wrongful death suit versus Chariton County, Missouri along with the supervisor of the BNSF Railway’s engineering department, Mariano Rodriguez.

Mrs. Barton stated the railway crossing where the crash happened was “ultra-hazardous,” lacked “bells, gates, or lights,” and was not effectively kept. She competes that her spouse “did not see or hear the train coming with adequate warning to safely cross the tracks.”

The suit specifies that the security concerns at the crossing had actually been reported to the nation prior to the crash which Rodriguez “knew or should have known that the Porche crossing posed a grave danger to the public.”

The widow is looking for $25,000 and prejudgment interest to cover the legal bills sustained from submitting the suit.

“This grade crossing was a trap,” Steven Groves, an attorney for the Barton family, told The Washington Post. “It’s literally not possible to use it safely for someone who’s driving a truck like he was, when a 90-mile-per-hour train comes down the track like it did.”

Numerous detectives from the National Transportation Safety Board were at the scene of the June 27 crash. While the examination is continuous, the NTSB has actually reported the train was traveling 87 mph which is below the 90 miles per hour speed limitation at the time of the accident. Both Amtrak and BNSF have actually approximated the wreck triggered $75,000 worth of damages.

At least three passengers, Rochelle Cook, 58, Kim Holsapple, 56, and Binh Pan, 82, were killed during the collision and an estimated 100 were injured.

H/T Timcast

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