BNSF Railway News

BNSF Acknowledges Iowa Derailment Was Flood Related

BNSF Railway has acknowledged that flooding played a role in a derailment that loosed thousands of gallons of oil into northwest Iowa floodwaters. Railroad spokesman Andy Williams wouldn’t say whether the train engineer knew or should have known about washed-out …

Damage Cap Upheld in Fatal 2015 North Dakota School/Bus Train Crash

The North Dakota Supreme Court has upheld a $500,000 cap on damages in a 2015 fatal school bus-train crash near Larimore. The bus driver and a student died when the Larimore school bus with 13 students collided with a BNSF …

Supreme Court Weighs Limiting Where Corporations Can Be Sued

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared poised to clamp down on where corporations can be sued, a potential setback for plaintiffs’ lawyers who strive to bring cases in courts and locales they consider friendly. The nine justices in two …

Survivor of Deadly Texas Train Wreck Sues BNSF Railway

The lone survivor of a head-on crash between two freight trains in the Texas Panhandle has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $1 million in damages. The Amarillo Globe-News reported that Derek Schilling filed the lawsuit last week in Tarrant …

Judge in Washington Finds Railway Could Be Liable if Spills Proven

A federal judge in Seattle has found that BNSF Railway could be held liable in a lawsuit claiming that coal spilled from trains pollutes waterways if environmental groups can show at trial that such discharges actually occurred. Ruling in the …

As Texas Train Wreckage Smolders, BNSF Says Technology May Have Prevented Crash

Wreckage from a train collision continued to smolder on June 29 in the Texas Panhandle as workers prepared to remove the charred, twisted box cars from the tracks and renew their search for three missing crew members. Three BNSF Railway …

Kansas Feed Yard Sued over Damaged Tracks, Derailment

Amtrak has filed a federal lawsuit against a southwest Kansas feed yard, accusing it of gross negligence in relation to a train derailment that injured 32 passengers in March. In the suit filed by Amtrak and BNSF, the plaintiffs allege …

NTSB: Kansas Derailment Site Track Damage Traced to Grain Truck

The derailment of an Amtrak passenger train in Kansas in March that injured more than two dozen people occurred at a site where there had been damage to the track that has been traced to a grain truck, federal authorities …

NTSB: Feed Truck Shifted Track Before Kansas Amtrak Accident

A truck used to deliver feed to a business where cattle are fattened hit a train track and shifted it at least a foot before an Amtrak train derailed in southwest Kansas and injured at least 32 people, an investigator …

Investigators Looking at Rail Condition in Kansas Amtrak Derailment

Investigators looking into the derailment of an Amtrak passenger train in southwest Kansas will review rail conditions and other factors to determine the cause of the accident, a federal transportation official says. Amtrak’s Southwest Chief was carrying more than 140 …