Eastern Railroad Discussion > SARM in Oak Ridge, TN excursions suspended

From Southern Appalachia Railway Museum Facebook page:It is with great regret that we have to announce the suspension of the Secret City Scenic excursion operation. We received notification earlier today from the owners of Heritage Railroad, that they would be unable to renew our Operating Agreement. The reason given was liability concerns.In nearly two decades of service SARM is most proud of the thousands of volunteer hours worked and tens of thousands of passengers transported safely.The museum's extensive equipment collection is safe and we will be working on other opportunities in the future. We would like to thank the Department of Energy, CROET, Energy Solutions, the Oak Ridge Heritage Rail Authority, Walden's Ridge Railroad and the Oak Ridge community for their years of support in this endeavor.We will be refunding all pre-paid reservations.

The blood-sucking lawyers win again.......

well that sucks...

It's usually not hard to find a recent case where someboy received an "outrageous" payment for an injury.  In Florida, the TV is filled with ads for lawyers who will get you a jackpot for your slip and fall.  People line up to consult with these guys to see what their winnings will be.

I can't imagine an insurance company wanting to write insurance for an "amusement venue" which involves climbing up steps, steam engines in some cases, largely volunteer maintenance, etc.

How much mney is being sought in the Toy Town train overturn from a few years ago? I'm sure that's not cheap...

Liability is not a theoretical issue; it's real. NS could have had a big financial hit from the 1986 Dismal Swamp derailment. 177 of the estimated 1000 passengers were taken to hospital, and 19 of them were injured badly enough to be admitted (5 originally in critical condition). No one died but it could have been much worse. From the perspective of NS, it was an employee excursion and employees are less likely to sue their employer. 

Sure, you can argue that Dismal Swamp was an extreme case and that it isn't likely to recur in the context of a smaller, slower-speed excursion. But other excursions have derailed, some at slow speed. All it takes is one death and the loss is in the millions. You can blame that on ambulance-chasing lawyers if you choose, but if it's your family member who dies or who is seriously injured, I suspect you (or your health insurance provider) will be at the courthouse looking for recovery.. especially if investigation finds evidence of negligence.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/16 06:52 by ctillnc.

Sometimes it's not even the railroads fault, take for example the log truck that plowed into the side of a West Virginia Central excursion at a public grade crossing. I'd have to say that that is thee most damaged small operation excursion equipment I've seen in my lifetime.

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Insurance companies are in the business of pricing risk.  You estimate your possible exposure, even for things that are "one in a million", and set a price that will cover the probability that will happen, plus a margin for profit and bad estimates.

Nobody expected two of the biggest buildings in the world would collapse in a few hours, and kill 3,000 people. And, take six neighboring buildings with them. That changed insurance pricing and reinsurance (Berkshire Hathaway, etc) rates forever.

 

SARM did not have any problems getting an insurer over all the years of their operations and that is certainly not the problem now - they are well insured.  The problem is that the owner of the railroad that SARM operates over (Energy Solutions) no longer wants to have them running on their rails, despite SARM being well insured.  It appears that Energy Solutions is fearful of themselves being sued in the event of an injury - at least they claim "liability" reasons as to why they pulled the rails out from under SARM.  This is somewhat of a paradox since Energy Solutions has their name plastered all over a huge sports arena in Salt Lake City.  I guess no one ever gets hurt in a sports arena.   

> This is somewhat of a paradox since Energy Solutions
> has their name plastered all over a huge sports
> arena in Salt Lake City.  I guess no one ever
> gets hurt in a sports arena.   

People certainly do get injured at arenas and stadiums; it happened to a neighbor of mine. But the difference is that Energy Solutions doesn't operate the arena. They operate the railroad through their wholly owned subsidiary HRC. I suspect the contract for naming rights at the arena indemnifies Energy Solutions from any liability.

Make no mistake about it, they can most certainly be sued.  Now how the court would rule is another matter, but you can bet an injury lawyer will make it very uncomfortable for them.    


ctillnc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > This is somewhat of a paradox since Energy
> Solutions
> > has their name plastered all over a huge sports
> > arena in Salt Lake City.  I guess no one ever
> > gets hurt in a sports arena.   
>
> People certainly do get injured at arenas and
> stadiums; it happened to a neighbor of mine. But
> the difference is that Energy Solutions doesn't
> operate the arena. They operate the railroad
> through their wholly owned subsidiary HRC. I
> suspect the contract for naming rights at the
> arena indemnifies Energy Solutions from any
> liability.

Some naming rights agreements exclude liability, with the operator of the stadium assuming risk / indemnifying the sponsor. It allows them to charge more for the rights.

(That became an issue when Enron Stadium abruptly changed its name. Enron had an agreement which held them harmless.)