Cascade derailment victim wins suit; more should have been done to mitigate danger of curve

Written by RT&S Staff
Amtrak
A federal jury has awarded $8 million in damages to victim of Cascade derailment.
Amtrak

A federal jury has ruled in favor of a woman who was hurt in the 2017 Amtrak train derailment in the state of Washington that killed five.

Emily Torjusen was awarded $8 million in damages. Torjusen was the passenger in the seventh car on the high-speed rail train’s first run on the rebuilt Point Defiance Bypass route when the derailment happened, spilling train cars onto I-5.  

The report filed by the National Transportation Safety Board placed much of the blame on Sound Transit. According to the NTSB, the agency did not do enough to mitigate the danger of the curve where the derailment happened. Just one sign warned the engineer to slow down leading up to the curve. The train was traveling at 79 mph at the time of the accident.

Amtrak has now paid more than $46 million on connection with the Cascade derailment.

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