Train Operator Who Hit MARTA Bus Seeking $1 Million in Damages

Decaturish is reporting this morning that a CSX train operator who hit a MARTA bus stuck on the tracks back in May 2013 has filed a lawsuit seeking $1 million in damages.

The lawsuit argues that the steep grade of the intersection was a known safety hazard, noting that a collision occurred at that intersection 3 months prior to the MARTA bus accident.

CSX, the City of Decatur, MARTA and GDOT are all listed as defendants in the suit, which is posted in full on Decaturish.

City Manager Peggy Merriss told Decaturish, ““The litigation should have no effect on the North McDonough Streetscapes project or the South Candler/South McDonough/Howard railroad crossing project either,”.

Improving that intersection has long been a goal of Decatur’s 2008 Transportation Plan.  The city held a public input meeting on improvements back in 2013, however getting design approval from the Georgia Department of Transportation usually takes years and there haven’t been any public statements about the status of this project lately.

Photo of 2013 incident courtesy of Lee

12 thoughts on “Train Operator Who Hit MARTA Bus Seeking $1 Million in Damages”


  2. Maybe this will force some action and get everyone’s collective thumbs out of their collective orifices.
    It’s dangerous and has been for a very long time.

  6. You will note that one of the parties being sued is the train operator’s employer, CSX railway.

  8. If I was in charge I’d make CSX start trenching at the Western and Eastern edges of Decatur and lower the tracks about 20 feet through the center of the city, (although on the East side they would only have to get rid of the embankment). The low point could be a crossing at Commerce/Columbia, the other 3 crossings would become level bridges over the tracks.

    A 1% grade would just about drop the tracks 20 feet between the East Lake bridge and the Atlanta St. crossing. Then level through town and a 1% grade back up from East Commerce to Sams Crossing.

    England and Scotland are full of little towns with railroads in trenches below road grade.

    2. Gastonia, NC did the trench thing. In addition to the cost, you have a massive construction project that lasts for a long time and the RR has to re-route all their trains for the duration. Seems like a good idea in theory, but not likely to happen here.

  10. Why does MARTA continue to buy vehicles that are clearly inappropriate for Atlanta streets? They can’t make a simple turn without driving through the street furniture and threatening everyone in the vicinity. I’m rooting for the plaintiff on this one. They knew better and were reckless.

    1. Exactly what is reckless about buying or operating a standard size bus? There isn’t a city in the world that doesn’t have intersections which are difficult to navigate with a larger vehicle.

      And BTW, MARTA is only one of several named defendants. Should the plaintiff also recover from the other defendants b/c you have deemed MARTA reckless?

      1. The parties being sued have long known of the dangers of that crossing and of limitations of vehicle types consistently failing to clear that crossing. The train operators have long put up with being personally endangered by the irresponsible, dangerous inaction of the defendants. I think the plaintiff may have a good case.

        And regards to oversized vehicles on small city streets. Endangering people and destroying property is MARTA’s modus operandi as long as they knowingly schedule oversized vehicles that cannot turn in an intersection without driving over the sidewalk, scraping equipment and signals off of telephone poles and forcing motorists out of their lanes. It doesn’t matter if others do it. Public safety is not optional. Find a safer route, get better fitting vehicles, or get out of the business.

  12. The image at top shows a CN engine, but it’s stated that the operator was a CSX employee, and it’s obviously CSX track. It’s pretty rare to see CN engines down here. I wonder if it was working off “horsepower hours” owed to CSX for use of their equipment.

  14. I have no real knowledge on how any of this legal stuff works (my expertise is in manganese and chinch bugs), but it seems like asking for $1M in damages is maybe a strategy to keep the amount small enough that it’s not worth the defendants’ time to fight, so they’ll settle quick? The filing paperwork posted on decaturish has to have costed six figures already

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