LOS ANGELES — The conductor aboard a commuter train that collided last week with a freight train filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging the accident could have been prevented, a wire service reports.
Patrick J. Phillips, 48, seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. The lawsuit names Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co.; the National Railroad Passenger Corp., known as Amtrak, and the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, which runs Metrolink.
Two commuters were killed and more 200 were injured in the head-on accident April 23 in Placentia.
Phillips’ attorney, Larry Feldman, said his client suffered a head gash and bleeding on the brain.
The lawsuit claims the defendants had prior knowledge “of the inevitability of a tragic and deadly train versus train (crash) occurring on those tracks given their condition and given the inadequate control and oversight of train travel over those tracks.”
Officials for Metrolink and Amtrak declined comment. The accident is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.