If you were hurt on a train, at a station or at a rail crossing in Maryland, you may have a claim against the railroad, the transit agency, a contractor that runs the trains, or the driver of a vehicle involved. Which one, and the deadline that applies, depends on who operated the train and who owned the track.
That matters more here than in most states. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, three MARC commuter lines, Baltimore’s Light Rail and Metro SubwayLink, Metrorail in the Washington suburbs and CSX and Norfolk Southern freight lines all run through Maryland, and each carries different rules.
Who runs the train decides the rules
- Amtrak runs intercity trains on the Northeast Corridor through stations including Baltimore Penn Station, BWI Airport and New Carrollton. Amtrak is a federally chartered corporation rather than a government agency, so a claim against it is generally brought as an ordinary injury claim, not through the federal government’s claims process.
- MARC commuter trains are a state service run by the Maryland Transit Administration. The trains are operated under contract, the Penn Line runs on Amtrak’s track and the Camden and Brunswick lines run on CSX track. A claim can lie against the State, the operating contractor, the track owner, or more than one of them.
- Baltimore Light RailLink and Metro SubwayLink are also run by the Maryland Transit Administration, so claims against the operator are claims against the State.
- Metrorail in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties is run by WMATA under its own interstate compact, with its own notice rule. See Metro and WMATA claims.
- Freight railroads, mainly CSX and Norfolk Southern, are private companies. Most claims against them arise at crossings and along the tracks.
MARC and Light Rail claims have a short state deadline
Because the Maryland Transit Administration is a state agency, a claim against it runs under the Maryland Tort Claims Act. Before any lawsuit, a written claim generally has to be submitted to the State Treasurer within one year of the injury, in a set form. The Act also limits how much can be recovered from the State.
This is the deadline most often missed in Maryland rail cases, because it is two years shorter than the ordinary limit and nothing about riding a commuter train suggests you are dealing with the State. Where a private contractor operated the train or a railroad owned the track, a separate claim against that company can run on the ordinary rules, which is another reason to identify every party early.
Passenger injuries
A train, like a bus, is a common carrier, and Maryland holds common carriers to a higher standard of care toward their passengers than an ordinary driver owes another road user. Passenger injuries are more often everyday events than derailments:
- Sudden stops and lurches that throw standing passengers
- Doors closing on passengers who are boarding or getting off
- The gap between train and platform, and platforms that are icy, crowded or poorly lit
- Station stairs, escalators and elevators, see escalator and elevator claims
- Assaults on trains and at stations, where security was inadequate, see negligent security claims
- Derailments and collisions, which injure many passengers at once
Crossing collisions and people on the tracks
Collisions between trains and cars, trucks and pedestrians at grade crossings are where freight railroads are most often sued. They usually turn on the crossing itself: whether gates and lights worked, whether vegetation or parked equipment blocked the view, whether the horn was sounded, and the train’s speed.
Maryland’s contributory negligence rule is the railroad’s main defense in these cases. If you are found even slightly at fault, you can be barred from recovering anything, so the railroad will argue that the driver or pedestrian should have stopped. The event recorder and the locomotive’s forward-facing video are often the answer to that argument.
Someone on the tracks away from a crossing is usually treated as a trespasser, and a property owner’s duty to a trespasser is essentially not to injure them willfully. Those claims are difficult, though not always impossible, and depend closely on the facts.
Rail evidence, and the federal investigation
Trains produce detailed electronic evidence: event recorder data showing speed, braking and horn use, forward-facing and inward-facing video, signal and dispatch records, and train control data. Railroads keep it only for limited periods, so a written preservation demand goes out immediately.
Serious derailments and collisions are investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Railroad Administration. Federal law restricts how the findings of a federal transportation safety investigation may be used in civil litigation, so a published conclusion is not simply evidence a claimant can rely on. Your deadlines do not pause while an investigation runs.
Railroad workers are not covered by workers’ compensation
Employees of railroads such as Amtrak and the freight lines generally claim under a federal law, the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, rather than workers’ compensation. A worker must show the railroad was negligent at least in part, but the worker’s own share of fault reduces the recovery rather than barring it, and the claim can cover pain and full lost earnings. Whether a worker for a contractor that runs trains is covered depends on the employer, so the employer is the first thing we check.
Deadlines by operator
- MARC, Light Rail and Metro SubwayLink (Maryland Transit Administration): a written claim to the State Treasurer, generally within one year
- Metrorail and Metrobus (WMATA): written notice within a strict period under the compact
- Amtrak, freight railroads, contractors and drivers: most Maryland injury lawsuits must be filed within three years of the injury
- Railroad workers: the federal worker’s claim generally allows three years
- A death: the wrongful death rules
