(The Associated Press circulated the following story on March 29.)
STROUDSBURG, Pa. — Two men who suffered severe electrical burns when they climbed atop a train near Lancaster are seeking damages from Norfolk Southern and Amtrak.
Jeffrey Klein of East Stroudsburg and Brett Birdwell of Stroudsburg, who were both 17 at the time, claim the rail companies failed to post warning signs about the danger of electrical arcing from the overhead wires.
When electricity arcs, it leaps from a wire to person, even though the person has not touched the wire.
The teens climbed on the train in Manheim Township in August 2002 to check out the view.
Norfolk spokesman Rudy Husband declined comment, citing the pending litigation.
In the suit, filed this month in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, Lancaster attorney Joseph Roda said Klein was zapped with 14,000 volts of electricity from the “arcing.”
The federal government has urged the railroad industry to post the warning signs, the suit charged.