FELA Lawsuit

More than 400 people turned out on October 5, 2007 to object to a new light rail line in South Los Angeles. Residents came to tell California Public Utilities Commissioner Timothy Simon and an administrative law judge that running trains at street level along an old railroad right of way would lead to deaths and injuries of students attending nearby Dorsey High School. Speakers demanded that the rail line be built below street level to eliminate conflicts with pedestrians and motorists.

The intensity of opposition to the rail line caused Simon to comment: “This process has been extraordinarily informative to me. I’m looking at all the crossings and their risk factors from a different perspective.” The Exposition Construction Authority wants state approval to lay tracks for the railroad line across more than 30 intersections from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City. A full scale public hearing to examine the safety of the proposed crossing near Dorsey High School was postponed to January 2008 after the construction authority’s board of directors voted to study alternatives to the street level design.

Najmedin Meshkati, a University of Southern California engineering professor, presented PUC officials with a report on ways the railroad line could be designed with more safety features. Although some of the safety features recommended in his report were incorporated into the design of the project, Meshkati said more could be done to protect the public at street level railroad crossings. Meshkati quoted a Southern California transit official who said, after a 2003 accident involving a Metrolink commuter train: “Every grade crossing is an accident waiting to happen.”

For more information, contact the FELA Attorneys at Williams Kherkher by calling 1.800.220.9341.