For decades, the railroads relied on powerful chlorinated solvents to break down all the grime and grease that accumulates on locomotives and railcars. As a result of their exposures to these solvents, many railroad machinists and car shop workers are […]

Norfolk Southern Railway (“NS”) recently produced a document from 1984 that is evidence of the railroad industry’s reliance on asbestos-containing products. As context, around the mid-1980’s, Class I railroads like NS were being named in hundreds of lawsuits brought by […]

Railroad workers are at a significantly elevated risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. Why is that? Because railroad workers have historically been exposed to known causes of Parkinson’s disease, including herbicides, chlorinated solvents and welding fumes. The diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease generally occurs […]

Recent medical studies provide compelling evidence linking railroad workers’ herbicide exposures to Parkinson’s disease.  The railroads rely on herbicides to control vegetation on mainline tracks, at rail crossings, and inside their rail yards. Most railroads spray their entire system with herbicides at […]

The Facts: On January 19, 2014, 49-year-old Scott Kowalewski was working as an engineer for BNSF Railway at the Northtown railyard in Minnesota. During the coupling of tank cars that contained casinghead gasoline, the cars vented poisonous fumes where Kowalewski was working. […]