The Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia has scheduled an oversight hearing for Tuesday entitled, “Back on Track: WMATA Red Line Metrorail Accident and Continual Funding Challenges.”

In light of the Monday, June 22nd Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metrorail Red Line accident and the subsequent ongoing investigations, the upcoming hearing will examine what progress has been made in the investigation, explore the steps WMATA has taken since the accident to ensure the safety of riders and employees, and provide an overview of various Metrorail systems, equipment, and safety policies and procedures. The hearing will also touch on such topics as WMATA’s aging infrastructure, challenges to funding the transit authority’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and industry-wide rail safety standards and practices.

As we were reading the American Association for Justice’s summer convention brochure, it was the railroad litigation group that had the lengthiest list of topics of all the focus areas. From the AAJ brochure:

Railroad Law Section, Railroad/Highway Crossing and Derailment Litigation Group & Federal Employer ’s Liability Act (FELA) Litigation Group
All Day
Theme: Hot Topics in Today’s World of Railroad Injury Law

• Applying the “Rules of the Road” to Lock Down Liability
• Railroad Passenger Claims against AMTRAK and Commuter Railroads in the Aftermath of the LA Metrolink Disaster
• Panel: Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On—Whole Body Vibration and Train Crews
• Panel: Discovery Against the Railroad: Dogging the Data in the Digital Age
• Panel: Guiding the Plaintiff Through Dark Territory—Shining a Light on Railroad Defenses
• Panel: Update on Railroad Law, Views from FELA, and Crossing Perspectives
• Landing the Big Rail Case While Keeping Your Moral Compass (ethics)
• Ethical Preparation and Presentation of Experts in Railroad Cases (ethics)
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury: What a Train Wreck!

What a train wreck! Yuck, yuck.

At any rate, just an interesting list of topics to consider as the lawsuit industry gears up against the WMATA for the Metro accident.

Brooks Schuelke, a personal injury attorney in Austin, Texas, writing at the trial lawyers’ blogging consortium, Injury Board.com, “Washington, DC Train/Rail Disaster Kills At Least Seven & Injures More. What Does It Mean For Austin?”

I’ve been emailing my friend Rick Shapiro, a Northern Virginia/DC personal injury lawyer, who happens to be one of the top railroad injury lawyers in the country. Rick’s a former head of the American Association for Justice Railroad Law section (and now one of Rick’s partners currently holds that post), and he’s written extensively on railroad safety. It’s really too early to tell what’s going on with this particular Metro crash, but Rick tells me that one of the things that concerns him is that the Metro was working on the tracks near the incident. This work could have likely caused some type of problem. As far as the operator’s failure goes, Rick says that he’s had previous cases involving Metro train wrecks where the Metro drivers were so overworked that fatigue played a big part in the wreck. I also saw a note that the operator of the train involved was one of the most inexperienced in the Metro system.

Well, those are reasonable observations. It IS too early to tell what’s going on, and there ARE reasons for concern. But surely as night follows day…