DETROIT — The families of two men killed in a train crash in Springfield Township last year filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday alleging Grand Trunk Western Railroad did not provide a safe working environment, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Conductor Gary Chase, 58, of Owosso and engineer Thomas Landris, 49, of Durand were killed Nov. 15 when the train they were operating collided with another.
“It’s been really hard for me the last couple of days,” Landris’ widow, Becky, said Thursday. “I didn’t want to do this, but — the railroad — I haven’t heard anything from them. I don’t know anything about what happened.”
Attorney Steven Kantor, who is representing the Chase and Landris families, said malfunctioning equipment, new signal system software and crew error are the issues he will argue against Grand Trunk, a subsidiary of Canadian National. The lawsuit is seeking damages of more than $75,000.
Canadian National spokesman Jack Burke said the company has not seen the lawsuit and cannot comment.
However, he said the company would not ignore problems.
“We make every effort to ensure whenever a problem arises it is fixed immediately,” Burke said.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators are compiling the crash report.
Preliminary findings show the second train, operated by engineer Allen Yash and conductor Jesse Enriquez, was sticking out onto the main track from a side track, causing the collision. Neither has returned to work.
Yash’s attorneys declined comment and referred all questions to the railroad company.
Enriquez’s attorney Robert Thompson of Chicago said Enriquez received a mild brain injury and does not remember the crash.
Allegations made by the Chase and Landris families include:
–Equipment inside Yash and Enriquez’s train intended to help Yash keep track of where the end of the train was, malfunctioned. That equipment would have allowed Yash to determine if the train was fully on the sidetrack.
–New software for the signals that alert engineers and conductors of when they need to stop may not have been properly tested or working properly before going into operation, soon before the crash.
Since the crash, union engineers and conductors in the Michigan region have filed at least 29 complaints about problems with the signal system.
“There are a lot of question marks as to what happened to cause this accident,” said Kantor, a New York attorney who mainly handles railroad cases.