By Matthew R. Fogg and Joshua H. Meyeroff
When a train derails, collides with another train, or is involved in a grade crossing accident, the passengers and bystanders who are hurt rightfully receive attention. But there is another group of people who are often injured in train accidents or other hazards associated with their jobs who face a very different legal landscape when they try to recover: the railroad workers who were on the job when the accident happened.
If you are a railroad employee — an engineer, conductor, brakeman, track worker, or other crew member — and you were injured in a train accident or while performing your work-related duties, your legal rights are not governed by ordinary state workers’ compensation law. They are governed by a federal statute called the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, or FELA. Understanding how FELA works, what it entitles you to, and what you need to do to protect your claim is essential. This article explains.
Most workers who are hurt on the job turn to their state’s workers’ compensation system for benefits. Workers’ compensation is a no-fault program: you receive medical coverage and a portion of your wages without having to prove your employer did anything wrong. The tradeoff is that the benefits are capped. You cannot recover for pain and suffering, emotional distress, or the full long-term economic impact of a serious injury.
Railroad workers are specifically excluded from state workers’ compensation systems. Congress made a deliberate choice more than a century ago to give railroad employees a different remedy — one that reflects both the dangerous nature of railroad work and the disproportionate power that railroad companies have historically held over their workforce. That remedy is FELA, enacted in 1908 and still the governing law for railroad worker injuries today.
FELA is a fault-based statute. If you were injured in a train accident and the railroad’s negligence contributed to that accident, you have the right to pursue full compensation in state or federal court. That includes categories of recovery that simply do not exist under workers’ compensation — compensation for pain and suffering, emotional distress, and the full loss of what your working life would have been.
The flip side is that FELA requires you to prove fault. And when it comes to train accidents, railroad companies and their insurers move quickly to protect their own interests. Knowing your rights from the start matters.
Pursuant to FELA, the railroad has an affirmative duty and must use reasonable care to furnish you with a safe place to work and provide equipment in proper working order to safely perform your job. That duty cannot be passed on to some other person, firm or corporation.
To prevail on a FELA claim arising from a train accident or work-related accident, you must show that the railroad’s negligence played some role in causing the accident and your injury. The good news is that the causation standard under FELA is intentionally lower than it is in ordinary civil litigation. Courts have held that FELA requires only that the railroad’s negligence contributed to the harm “in whole or in part” — even if that contribution was slight.
In train accident and railroad injury cases, negligence often takes one or more of the following forms:
That last point is particularly significant. When a railroad has violated a federal safety statute or regulation — and those violations contributed to the accident — FELA can impose strict liability without requiring a separate negligence showing. This is known as negligence per se, and it is a powerful tool in cases where regulatory failures are part of what caused the crash.
Train accidents & railroad injuries are federally regulated events. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and, in serious cases, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate. The railroad’s own claims and legal teams will also deploy quickly — often within hours of the accident.
That response is not accidental. Railroad companies understand that the evidence gathered in the immediate aftermath of a train accident shapes the legal outcome. They will document the scene on their terms, preserve what helps them, and begin building a record. If you are an injured crew member, you may be asked for a recorded statement before you have had the chance to speak with a lawyer. You may be directed to a company-designated physician. You may be presented with paperwork that seems routine but is anything but.
None of this means you cannot protect yourself — but it does mean you need to act. Here is what we advise railroad workers to do after being injured in a train or railroad accident:
One of the most predictable moves in railroad litigation is the attempt to argue that the injured worker was responsible for the accident, at least in part. In a train accident, this might mean claiming that you failed to follow a protocol, made an error in judgment in the moments before the collision, or disregarded a safety rule.
FELA does allow comparative fault to reduce your recovery. If you were partially responsible for what happened, your compensation is reduced proportionally. But — critically — partial fault does not bar your claim. FELA eliminated the old common law rule that would have denied any recovery to a worker who bore even a fraction of the responsibility. You can be found partially at fault and still recover substantial compensation.
How fault is framed, allocated, and argued directly affects how much you receive. This is one of the most contested areas in FELA litigation, and experienced legal representation makes a real difference in how it resolves.
A successful FELA claim following a train accident can provide compensation for:
These categories go significantly beyond what workers’ compensation provides. For workers who have suffered serious injuries — traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, amputations, severe burns — or who have lost a family member in a fatal train accident, the difference between FELA recovery and workers’ comp benefits can be substantial.
FELA gives injured railroad workers three years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit — longer than the two-year deadline that applies to most personal injury claims in Delaware and many other states. But three years passes faster than it seems, especially in complex train accident cases.
Building a strong FELA claim takes time: preserving and obtaining physical evidence, reviewing maintenance and inspection records, identifying and working with expert witnesses, documenting the full scope of your medical injuries and prognosis, and establishing what the railroad knew about the conditions that caused the accident. The earlier that process begins, the better protected you are.
If a government-operated railroad is involved, different notice requirements and timelines may also apply. Our Train Accident attorneys can help you understand the specific deadlines in your situation.
Train accidents are serious events with serious consequences. If you were on the job when the accident happened, you deserve to understand your rights under federal law before you make any decisions about your claim.
At Morris James, our attorneys represent railroad workers and their families in FELA claims arising from train accidents. We handle these cases on a contingency fee basis — you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. From the moment you contact us, we work to protect your rights, preserve critical evidence, and build the strongest possible case on your behalf.
Call us at 302.655.2599 or contact us online to schedule a free, confidential consultation.
