Passenger Trains Collide in Connecticut, Injuring 60 Passengers

Accidents involving passenger trains don’t happen very often but are worrying when they occur because they often entail major loss of life or injury.

In Fairfield, Connecticut as many as 60 people were injured when a commuter train derailed and hit a train coming in the opposite direction.

At a news conference on May 17, 2013, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said five people were critically injured and one passenger was very critically hurt in the evening crash on the Metro-North Railroad, which serves the northern suburbs of New York City.

You don’t need to be a Virginia railroad accident attorney to imagine the terrible scene that unfolded during the crash. Passengers spoke of a terrifying scene of crunching metal and flying bodies.

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“All I know was I was in the air, hitting seats, bouncing around, flying down the aisle and finally I came to a stop on one seat,” Lola Oliver, 49, of Bridgeport, told the Associated Press. “It happened so fast I had no idea what was going on. All I know is we crashed.”

About 700 people were on board the Metro-North trains when one the heading east out of New York City’s Grand Central Station to New Haven derailed just outside Bridgeport, MTA and Bridgeport officials stated.

It’s not clear what went wrong but highly likely that negligence was involved, making lawsuits likely against the train companies. If a mechanical failure caused this crash, there may be grounds for a product liability lawsuit.

Crashes of commuter trains are always of considerable concern in Hampton Roads which is served by Amtrak and has a recently opened Metro system in the form of the Tide in Norfolk, a Hampton Roads Transit operated light rail system that may be extended to Virginia Beach in the future.

The Tide has suffered one minor derailment but has not seen any major accidents since it opened in 2011.

If you have been hurt on the railroad contact an experienced railroad accident injury lawyer for a free consultation.