Off the wire
• Albania to launch tender for oil, gas explorations in June  • 1st LD Writethru: Oil prices drop as U.S. dollar rebounds  • Israeli PM vows to continue settlements construction in east Jerusalem  • Spotlight: Expiration of NSA's spying program looms as GOP infighting continues  • Urgent: Chinese premier arrives in Brazil for official visit  • 1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises against euro amid Greece concerns  • Austrians throw away 1 million tonnes of food each year: study  • Syrian forces consolidate positions around Palmyra  • Russian fighters captured in Ukraine not in active service, says Moscow  • Americans' satisfaction with country's direction wanes: Gallup  
You are here: 　 Home

Passengers sue Amtrak over train derailment as full rail service resumes

Xinhua, May 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Four passengers on an Amtrak train that derailed last week filed a federal lawsuit against the publicly funded U.S. rail service Monday when full rail operation resumed in the Northeast Corridor.

The lawsuit that filed in Philadelphia, a historic city in the state of Pennsylvania, cited "serious and disabling" injuries from the Amtrak Train 188 derailment near Philadelphia that killed eight people and injured more than 200 others.

On Tuesday, the Amtrak train, headed from Washington, D.C. to New York with 243 people on board, was traveling at 106 miles per hour, or about 170 kilometers per hour, derailed just north of Philadelphia after it entered a curve with a speed limit of 50 mph.

Monday's lawsuit were filed by two Spanish citizens, Felicidad Redondo Iban, 64, Maria Jesus Redondo Iban, 55, as well as Daniel Armyn, 43, of New York and Amy Miller, 39, of New Jersey.

Their lawyers, Robert Mongeluzzi and Tom Kline, blamed Amtrak's failure to install safety technology, such as positive train control, that would have prevented the derailment. They decried the train engineer Brandon Bostian's control in the incident.

"Speed kills," Mongeluzzi said, "That engineer had a sacred and solemn responsibility for the safety of his passengers."

Bostian, 32, who suffered a concussion, told investigators he has no memory of what occurred after the train pulled out of the North Philadelphia station, just before the crash.

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB) into the cause of the crash was ongoing as Amtrak resumed operations on the Northeast Corridor railway line, America's busiest passenger rail service.

Acela Express, Northeast Regional and other services that were all disrupted because of the derailment were also due to resume Monday.

While announcing Sunday that the service would resume, Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman said that the safety of passengers and crew was his company's "number one priority."

Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Kevin Thompson said Sunday that the automatic train control system is now fully operational on the northbound tracks.

Temple University Hospital spokesman Jeremy Walter said Monday morning that eight survivors remain hospitalized there, with three still in critical condition. Endite