Trains are making a comeback. They have stayed the course, and advances in technology have allowed rail travel to keep a place in modern times. In Connecticut and elsewhere, trains remain an efficient way to move large quantities of freight or hundreds of people efficiently from one place to another. In spite of this, technology developed over a decade ago to decrease the risk of a train accident has gone largely unused since it’s inception.
The long-running and award-winning TV program, “60 Minutes,” investigates topical news stories and informs the public on a weekly basis. The show recently delved into the problem of train accidents in modern America. The facts may shock many readers.
After careful research and expert interviews, reporters found that countless train crashes, resulting in injury or death to innocent people, may have been prevented if new safety technology had been implemented in a timely fashion. The U.S. Congress passed laws nearly 10 years ago calling for the technology, coined Positive Train Control, or PTC, to be adopted by American railways in a timely fashion. A decade later, many rail lines are still operating without PTC, citing cost or logistic problems. Though this technology would make rail travel much safer for trains and the communities they travel through, it cannot help if it is not implemented.
For now, human error can still cause a train accident. Those accident victims hurt in a Connecticut train crash caused by human error may have grounds for legal recourse. In many cases, an experienced attorney can help a train accident victim take legal action against the party or parties deemed at fault, and a successfully presented claim may result in a substantial award of monetary damages.
