CHICAGO — A day after the one year anniversary of an Amtrak derailment near Nodaway, Iowa the family of the only passenger killed has filed suit claiming negligence on behalf of Amtrak and three other defendants, reports a wire service.
The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, states all four defendants failed “to exercise a proper degree of care for the safety of those on board” that would have prevented the California Zephyr from crashing on March 17, 2001. The suit named Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation and Railway Company, Herzog Contracting Corporation and Amtrak as defendants and seeks punitive damages for alleged gross misconduct from Burlington Northern Santa Fe.
“Amtrak and Burlington Northern Santa Fe had specific rules they were to follow in order to operate safely, but they didn’t and as a result Stella Riehl died,” says Donald Nolan, a Chicago attorney representing Mrs. Riehl’s family.
Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued their final report on the accident citing defective rail as the cause. However, the board failed to address that the section of track where the train derailed had been replaced 32 days before the crash with rail known to be defective.
“We have reason to believe that defective scrap rail was carelessly used to repair the section of track where the train derailed. There seemed to be no system to prevent this horrendous mistake from happening.”
“If we knew then what we know now about the rail system, our mother never would have been on that train,” said Riehl’s son, Charlie Romstad. “It is likely that there are miles and miles of defective track out there and the next disaster is around the corner. I want answers and public needs to know.”
Amtrak’s California Zephyr was traveling from Chicago to Emerville, CA, with 241 passengers and 16 crew members. Mrs. Riehl died and 96 other passengers were injured, many seriously.
As a result of the investigation, the NTSB Board Members recommended 5-0 that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) require railroads to perform ultrasonic inspections on replacement rail.