CSX And Norfolk Southern Railroads’ TV Advertising Is Ironic And Pure Propaganda

The major railroads NS (Norfolk Southern) and CSX have been advertising like crazy on the TV, at least in VA. The railroads have more money than they know what to do with. They were placing all of these commercials even during election season when the candidates were jacking up the rates for TV advertisement flooding the airways, including in Hampton Roads, VA.

The gist of the railroad’s ads is that they are good corporate citizens who are helping the environment. The reason they run these ads claiming that they are environmentally conscious because they don’t add as much pollution as trucks is because they’re very nervous that people who care about clean energy will realize that much of the business of CSX and Norfolk Southern is lugging coal from West Virginia to the ports in Norfolk and Portsmouth, VA. Coal is not a clean business no matter what their propaganda says.

The pictures of sunshine and clean engines with flowers and smiling people belies the fact that the railroads cause lots of the people who work on the trains lung diseases including cancer such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, and silicosis from the various fumes and hazardous conditions that railroad workers are forced to operate in. The train crews, like engineers and conductors, are also over-exposed to diesel fumes which is a known carcinoma. The railroads have known for decades going back even before the 1950s, that asbestos and other aspects of railroading caused major health problems for their workforce.

Despite the railroad companies’ knowledge about the dangers they were exposing their workers and public to as far as lung cancer and occupational illnesses, they for long stretches just put their heads in the sand and denied that there was a problem. It seems that they would just rather pay the occasional settlements and jury verdicts for people who got sick or died than to do too much to change the hazardous breathing air on the railroad.

As a FELA lawyer who is specialized in representing injured railroad workers in their accident and occupational disease cases against Norfolk Southern and CSX , I know the real story. When I watch them trying to clean up their image and make the public think they are good citizens through their ad campaigns, I cynically smile knowing what a load of bologna it is.

The Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Hampton railroad injury/FELA law firm, Cooper Hurley, handles railroad worker’s injuries and injuries on rail crossings in Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia, as well as automobile, truck, and motorcycle injuries and slip and fall cases, wrongful death and medical malpractice. John Cooper and Jim Hurley have over 40 years of combined experience in handling serious injury claims. Attorney John Cooper has been named to Virginia “Super Lawyers” since 2010.

Cooper Hurley represents families who have lost a loved one through another party’s fault in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and throughout VA, and north eastern North Carolina. We always put the best interests of our clients first. The firm is recognized by other lawyers as “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell, a national attorney rating service, for our top level of legal skill and highest ethical standards. If you need help or advice about a serious injury, please call us or contact us through this website.