BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The relatives of farmworkers killed in a train crash near Shafter last year have filed a $13.6 million wrongful death suit against Amtrak and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., according to a wire service report.
The suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges Amtrak saw the van but did not stop in time and Burlington failed to place crossing arms despite eight accidents at the same crossing since 1966.
Palomo Farm Services also is listed as a defendant. Burlington Northern Santa Fe maintains the tracks and signals and Palomo Farm Services employed the driver and passengers in the van.
Seven farm workers were killed about 16 miles northwest of Bakersfield on Dec. 12 after a train traveling about 80 mph hit the van they were riding in. Two people were ejected and five others were found dead inside the vehicle.
At the time, authorities said the warning lights and bells were working at the crossing. The railroad and the track maintenance company also said most railroad-related fatalities are caused by improper crossings and trespassing on the tracks.
The van driver, Mario Andres Aguilar, 32, was driving on a suspended license for hit-and-run, drunken driving and failing to yield the right of way, according to court records.
But alcohol was not a factor in the crash. Aguilar had only a 0.02 blood-alcohol level, well below the legal limit of 0.08 percent, a coroner’s report said.
Aguilar is not a plaintiff in the suit.