Over Thanksgiving weekend, a train was snaking its way through New York city when the Metro-North locomotive hit a curve going much too fast. According to investigations, the engineer should have been running the train at a mere 30 miles per hour going into the sharp turn. Instead, he had the train running at over 80 miles per hour. The mistake caused the train to derail, moving all seven cars off the tracks in a gory wreck.

Already, one of the victims of the crash is seeking compensation against the commuter railroad. This particular survivor claims to be seeking unspecified damages in connection with the accident. The first woman to file suit against the railroad for their negligence is an Army colonel and a dentist who was on her way to a convention at the time of the accident. She claims that the commuter railroad was negligent and that if the railroad had been more cautious the devestating accident could have been avoided. The Metro Transportation Authority has declined to comment about the lawsuit.

Investigations now show that the engineer who was operating the train at the time of the accident nodded off as he was coming into the turn. Research shows that he had the opportunity to get a full night's sleep, but it is not certain whether or not he was able to sleep the required amount. Despite the fact that it was the engineer's fault that the accident happened, state law requires that all negligence claims be filed against the railroad, not the train engineer specifically.

One attorney working on this case says that the railroad was slow to implement positive train control technology, which would have helped the train to slow when it came into the turn. Congress has ordered all railroads to adopt the technology, which includes GPS features, wireless radio features, and computers to monitor trains and stop them from colliding or derailing, by December of 2015. The Metro-North is yet to implement this technology. In fact, records show that the Metro-North has even asked for extensions in installing the technology.

An MTA spokesman says that the cost to implement the technology is astronomical at approximately $900 million. Much of the technology is also still under development. The first plaintiff in the Metro-North train accident case says that she suffered spine, collarbone, and rub fractures. She says that she was pinned inside an overturned car for about an hour while she waited to be rescued. The woman claims that she wasn't certain that she was going to survive the wreck.

The NTSB has already declared that the engineer fell asleep and this is what ultimately caused the horrific crash. The train will be declared a "human error" collision, a fact which will likely be repeated often as more and more injured victims and the mourning families of those who perished in the crash seek compensation from the railroad.

The NTSB says that the engineer did not have any alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of the crash, and the brake and signal systems appeared to be working. The New York Law Enforcement is still investigating the fatigue issue. The train engineer has already hired an attorney to help defend him against the lawsuits that are coming his way. He claims that he had "highway hypnosis" and that he cannot help what happened. He also claims that the brakes failed, though officials argue that the train stopped at nine different locations before the collision occurred. If you want more information about train accidents, then talk with a local attorney today. If you are injured in a train crash then you may have the right to seek compensation!