Connecticut readers may recall an Amtrak collision that involved multiple members of the United States Congress in 2018. This week’s headlines tell of another collision that occurred on the same line of tracks. In fact, for the first time in the Buckingham Branch company’s 30-year history (a railroad owned by CSX), a single train was involved in two separate crashes on the same day.

Sadly, both collisions resulted in fatalities. Both collisions also involved pedestrians, one of whom was a 39-year-old male. The tragedies occurred approximately three hours apart, and a distance of approximately 16 miles was between the two crash sites. A railroad company CEO said the back-to-back collisions involving the same locomotive were a tragic coincidence.

In each incident, the person struck was pronounced dead at the scene. One of the collisions happened near the intersection where the Amtrak crash between a train and trash truck took place last year. Investigators are now tasked with looking for clues to answer many questions, such as what or who may have been responsible for the fatal collisions.

Such investigations often take weeks or months to conclude. Railroad accidents in Connecticut or any other state that result in fatality are always of special concern to the Federal Railroad Administration. Such incidents often lead to litigation, especially when railroad workers are among the injured. The Federal Employers Liability Act protects injured workers by allowing them to file personal injury claims against their employers if they have evidence that employer negligence was a causal factor to their injuries.