4 Deaths, 65 Injuries Costs Metro-North $38 Million, And Counting: Report

By ALFRED BRANCH (Patch Staff)

The last few years have been very expensive for Metro-North, and not just from rising operating costs.

In an investigative report by The Journal News, lawsuits related to two derailments in recent years are costing the railroad $38.4 million, an amount expected to increase over the next couple of years as more lawsuits are filed.

A total of $28.2 million of the money went to pay settlements for four families and legal fees in connection with the the fatal December 2013 derailment near Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx.

And about $10 million also has gone to victims of the May 2013 derailment and crash near Bridgeport, Conn. and subsequent legal costs.

“That number is huge. I think it’s just another cost that has to be kept in mind when we look back at the history of the railroad and try to figure out what went wrong,” Jim Cameron, founder of the rider advocacy organization Commuter Action Group, told The Journal News. “Before all this happened, we all thought that Metro-North was safe. We had no idea how unsafe it had become.”

The money figure is going to rise, in part because several accidents since 2013 are not completed and not counted in that figure, including the deadly February 2015 crash in Valhalla that killed six.

Attorneys for some of the families of victims who died or were injured in Metro-North crashes say the railroad is aggressively trying to settle cases to try to keep a lid on the situation.

“Metro-North is literally throwing money at us to get these cases settled prematurely,” attorney Michael Lamonsoff, who represents a passenger who was injured in a crash and unable to return to work, told The Journal News. “I believe they’re trying to sweep these cases under the rug and get them out from under the spotlight.”

Click here to read the full story on The Journal News website.

Photo: December 2013 Metro-North derailment.