Virginia Railroad Lawyer And Attorney Comments On Train Accidents. As an experienced Virginia railroad lawyer and attorney handling personal injury claims, I am not surprised at the large number of recent train derailments and crashes. Today's news contained yet another article about a commuter train crashing into another commuter train in Chicago. Fortunately, the report indicated that there were no serious personal injury victims. I don't think there is any one reason why we are seeing so many reports of train accidents. Perhaps we are seeing the end result of reductions in the number of railroad employees who operate trains and employees who maintain the railroad tracks. If you talk to an experienced railroad employee, most likely he or she will tell you that train operations and track maintenance have suffered because of reductions in the number of railroad employees. For instance, between 1980 and 1990, the number of railroad employees working for Class 1 railroads decreased by fifty percent. It is difficult to think of any other industry that experienced such a significant drop in employee numbers in such a short time. At the same time, railroad business did not decrease significantly. The only number that has continued to increase over the years is railroad executive compensation. Let's hope that this recent spike in the number of train derailments and accidents does not continue. Francis P. Hajek Wilson & Hajek, LLC, a personal injury law firm Experienced Injury and Accident Lawyers Serving Virginia, including Albemarle, Charlottesville, Fluvanna, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, Orange, Greene, Augusta, Buckingham, Staunton, Waynesboro