Bill to Increase Railroad Accident Liability Cap

LOS ANGELES—A Southern California congressman introduced a bill Thursday proposing to raise the limit on damage payouts to victims of a train crash from $200 million to $500 million.

Rep. Elton Gallegly said his bill is intended to help victims of a Metrolink commuter train crash that killed 25 people and injured more than 100 two years ago.

The magnitude of the crash is testing a federal law enacted in 1997 that set a $200 million liability cap for any passenger train accident. Gallegly, whose district includes dozens of passengers hurt in the crash, said $200 million will not adequately cover all the victims' losses and medical expenses.

"The current cap will not even meet the medical needs of the survivors of one of the worst passenger train accidents in modern history," he said in a statement.

Gallegly wants to amend the law by proposing to lift the cap to a half-billion dollars in cases where gross negligence or willful misconduct contributed to the cause of the crash. The amount would be adjusted annually for inflation by the congressional secretary.

The bill would apply retroactively to Sept. 12, 2008, when a Metrolink train ran a red light and collided head-on with a Union Pacific freight train in the Chatsworth area of the San Fernando Valley. Investigators believe a Metrolink engineer, who was provided by former contractor Connex Railroad, was texting moments before the crash.


-DAISY NGUYEN

Information Provided By: MercuryNews.com