Two Norfolk Southern Railway employees who were controlling a train that derailed on East Carson Street in Baldwin in December are suing their company.
Edward Mansfield, of Cranberry Township, was the conductor and Matthew Marchionda, of Ambridge, was the locomotive engineer during the Dec. 12 crash.
A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court said the train was traveling from Chicago to New Jersey when, around 4:05 a.m., it struck rocks and boulders on the tracks that had been deposited from a rock slide caused by heavy winds and rain. There wasn’t a slide fence in the area to keep the rocks and boulders from going on the tracks, the lawsuit said.
“Conductor Mansfield first observed the enormous rock slide on the tracks when the train was approximately one-eighth of a mile away from the obstruction and immediately yelled to the engineer to apply the brakes,” the lawsuit said.
The train was placed into “emergency,” the complaint continued, but struck the rocks anyway.
At the time, the lawsuit said, the train was traveling about 40 mph and had two locomotives and more than 100 cars.
The collision caused both locomotives and five rail cars to derail, and both Mansfield and Marchionda were thrown out of their seats.
“The plaintiffs attempted to brace themselves, but were violently thrown about within the locomotive,” the lawsuit said.
The complaint said Mansfield sustained a head injury, concussion and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as other injuries.
Marchionda also sustained a head injury and concussion, as well as internal and spinal injuries.
The lawsuit said the boulders being on the tracks resulted from negligence and carelessness on the part of Norfolk Southern, including the railroad company’s failure to properly inspect the tracks or install protective fencing and its failure to instruct train operators to travel at a lower speed because of dangerous conditions in the area.
A message left with Norfolk Southern was not immediately returned.
Another train that derailed in August 2018 near Station Square sent rail cars and storage containers full of household products spilling down the hillside and onto the light-rail tracks below. No one was injured in that incident, which took several days to clean up.
