The engineer on the Amtrak train that crashed in 2015 in Philadelphia has filed a lawsuit against his employer, alleging that Amtrak neglected reports that the trains had been targets of projectiles. Brandon Bostian claims in his lawsuit that a foreign object struck his train shortly before the May, 2015 accident, leaving him either unconscious or disoriented. He alleges in his civil suit that the company failed to provide him with a safe place to work, and asks for unspecified damages in excess of $50,000.
Federal investigators say that all evidence indicates that is wasn’t Bostian’s train that was hit, but a nearby train, though they admit there’s no way to know for certain. They concluded that Bostian became distracted when he heard that another train had been “rocked,” lost track of where he was and accelerated when he should have been decelerating for a curve. The National Transportation Safety Board also put part of the blame on Amtrak, noting that the company had failed to install automatic speed control technology. The company installed the devices within days after the accident.
Bostian filed his lawsuit in federal court under the Federal Employee’s Liability Act, a statute that sets forth the rights of injured railroad workers, among others. He alleges that he has suffered psychological and physical injuries that make it difficult or impossible for him to work.
The 2015 Philadelphia Amtrak accident took the lives of eight people and injured more than 200 others. Amtrak has accepted responsibility and will pay in excess of $265 million to settle most of the lawsuits filed.
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