
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 20, 1994                   TAG: 9402200116
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                LENGTH: Short

WAS AMTRAK RAIL SWITCH VULNERABLE?

Two earlier incidents of vandalism should have warned Amtrak officials that a switch used to derail a passenger train in 1992 was vulnerable, said lawyers for 51 passengers injured in the wreck.

"A lot of vandalism has occurred on the CSX lines generally, and at this switch in particular," lawyer Stephen Heretick said Friday in U.S. District Court.

But lawyers for Amtrak and CSX, which owns the track, argued that the derailment - triggered by two young Coast Guardsmen who broke a lock and pulled a switch - was unforeseeable.

"I don't see how a jury could conclude that what [the vandals] did was probably going to occur," said Amtrak's lawyer, David Bowen.

About 70 passengers were hurt when the train, traveling 80 mph, ran off the tracks Aug. 12, 1992, at the Bell King Road crossing in Newport News. It was the same spot where another Amtrak train derailed four months earlier after hitting a truck.

On Friday, Amtrak and CSX lawyers asked a judge to throw out the lawsuits, but Judge Robert Payne let the case move forward.

The trial is scheduled to start July 11.

by CNB