“After all, the dead guy can’t be sued but the rail authority can be.”
If the dead guy was the employee of the rail authority, it makes no legal difference for civil suits. The rail authority is responsible, just like Exxon was responsible for employing the drunken tanker captain.
Many rail systems have some mechanism to force a train to stop on a red signal. Primitive technology was one cause of this disaster.
The engineer was an employee of Veolia, which contracted for operation of the trains.
Was there anything unusual about having that particular freight running on that day? Was it typical for the Metrolink to wait at that point for a freight to pass? If the Metorlink normally had no other traffic to deal with on that run, the engineer could have gotten complacent.
Good point, though naming him so quickly does offer cover for any other individual that may or may not have been at fault.
Lots of unanswered questions at this time, though. Was the signal really red? Was any attempt made to radio the engineer or otherwise warn him? Is there some automation built into the system that would prevent this? Does the dispatcher have any indication of train locations along the tracks?
For heaven’s sake, the airlines have had collision avoidance systems for many years. How about installing such systems on trains? In particular ones that share a track with oncoming traffic. A low cost way to save lives, avoid massive property damage, etc. The Executives of this rail authority should be held criminally liable for negligent homicide. Think that this would happen again if they were so held? No way!