Can you sue Amtrak?
Yes, and how depends on who you are. If you work for Amtrak and were hurt on the job, your claim falls under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA), with three years to file suit in most cases. If you were hurt as a passenger, on a train, on a platform or at a station, your claim is a negligence claim under state law, and federal courts can hear it because of how Amtrak was created. The two paths have different rules, different deadlines and, for passengers, a federal cap on what all claims from one accident can recover.
Amtrak is the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. Congress created it in 1970, and the federal government is its majority stockholder. By statute it is not a federal agency. It is operated as a for-profit corporation and treated as a railroad carrier, and its principal office is in Washington, D.C. (49 U.S.C. § 24301). It carried a record 34.5 million trips in fiscal 2025 over more than 21,000 route miles in 46 states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian provinces.
Most of those miles belong to someone else. Amtrak owns and operates 363 of the 457 route-miles of the Northeast Corridor main line, and in the Midwest it owns the 95.6-mile Michigan Line from Porter, Indiana, to Kalamazoo. About 71 percent of Amtrak’s train-miles run on host railroads' tracks. Its largest hosts in fiscal 2025 were BNSF, with 6.8 million Amtrak train-miles, Union Pacific, with 5.9 million, CSX, with 5.3 million, Norfolk Southern, Canadian National, Metro-North and CPKC. When a track or signal problem on a host railroad contributes to an accident, the host railroad may share responsibility.
Illinois is one of Amtrak’s busiest states. In fiscal 2025 about 55 Amtrak trains a day served 30 Illinois stations on 16 routes, and passengers got on or off 4,578,910 times. Chicago Union Station alone counted 3,175,011, behind only New York, Washington and Philadelphia. Long-distance trains such as the California Zephyr, Empire Builder, Southwest Chief, City of New Orleans, Texas Eagle, Cardinal and Lake Shore Limited serve Chicago, along with Midwest trains like the Hiawatha, Lincoln Service and Wolverine.
How do injured Amtrak employees bring a claim?
Under FELA, the same federal law that covers freight railroaders. Amtrak is a railroad carrier under federal law, and the laws that govern a rail carrier’s dealings with its employees apply to Amtrak (49 U.S.C. § 24301). A 1996 GAO report put it directly. "FELA covers virtually all railroads operating in interstate service, including the freight railroads, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), and most commuter railroads." FELA makes the railroad liable for an injury that results "in whole or in part" from its negligence or from a negligent defect in its equipment or track (45 U.S.C. § 51). Under CSX Transportation v. McBride (2011), it is enough that the railroad’s negligence played a part, no matter how small.
The railroad cannot argue that you assumed the risks of the job when its negligence played a part (45 U.S.C. § 54). Your own share of fault reduces your damages without barring the claim, and does not reduce them at all where Amtrak’s violation of a safety statute contributed (45 U.S.C. § 53).
That covers every Amtrak craft, from engineers and conductors to coach cleaners, mechanics and track workers. Amtrak’s heavy equipment shops include Beech Grove, Indiana, and it runs a major maintenance facility in Chicago. On-board service workers, along with clerks and carmen, are represented by the Transportation Communications Union, and James Farina is TCU Designated Legal Counsel. William McMahon and James Farina are also SMART-TD Designated Legal Counsel. See our railroad union lawyers page and our FELA railroad injury page.
After an injury, Amtrak’s claims staff will be involved quickly. They evaluate and resolve Amtrak’s exposure, and they work for Amtrak. Our article on the Amtrak claims department explains what to expect and what to keep. Under the Federal Railroad Safety Act, Amtrak may not discipline you for reporting the injury or for following your treating physician’s orders, and may not delay or interfere with your treatment (49 U.S.C. § 20109). The same law protects you for reporting a hazardous safety condition and for refusing to violate a federal safety rule. Coworkers can tell you what they saw, because a rule meant to stop them is void (45 U.S.C. § 60). A retaliation complaint must be filed with OSHA within 180 days (§ 20109(d)(2)(A)(ii)). If you win, the law provides reinstatement, back pay with interest and compensatory damages, and allows punitive damages of up to $250,000 (§ 20109(e)). See our FRSA railroad whistleblower page.
In the first days after an on-the-job injury at Amtrak, a few steps protect your claim.
- Get medical care, and tell every provider the injury happened at work.
- Write down the names of coworkers, passengers and anyone else who saw it.
- If you can do it safely, photograph the location, the equipment and its car or unit numbers.
- Keep copies of the injury report, medical records, pay stubs and any discipline notice.
- Do not sign a release or accept a settlement before you have talked to a lawyer.
Can a passenger hurt on Amtrak recover damages?
Yes, when Amtrak’s negligence caused the injury. A passenger’s claim is generally decided under the negligence law of the state where it happened. The questions are the familiar ones in a train case. What caused the derailment, collision, sudden stop or fall, who maintained the track, equipment or platform, and what the crew did or failed to do.
Because Congress created Amtrak and the United States owns more than half of its stock, federal district courts have jurisdiction over suits involving Amtrak, whatever the cause of action (28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1349). The Seventh Circuit, whose decisions bind federal courts in Chicago, said so in Aliotta v. National Railroad Passenger Corp. (2003). So a passenger case can be heard in federal court even though state law supplies the rules. If the accident happened on a host railroad’s track, the claim may involve the host railroad as well as Amtrak.
The deadline is set by state law, not FELA, and it is often shorter than three years. For an injury in Illinois, a personal injury suit generally must be filed within two years (735 ILCS 5/13-202). Other states set their own limits.
For the practical steps after a train accident, from reporting the incident to working through Amtrak’s process, read our guide to Amtrak accident claims. Train and station injuries more broadly are covered on our train accident injuries page.
Is there a limit on what Amtrak passengers can recover?
Yes, for passenger claims from a single accident. Federal law caps the total awards to all rail passengers, against all defendants, for all claims from a single accident or incident, including punitive damages (49 U.S.C. § 28103). Congress set the cap at $200 million in 1997 and later required it to be adjusted for inflation every five years. The first adjustment, in 2016, raised it to $294,278,983. The Department of Transportation raised it from $322,864,228 to $401,900,000, effective September 4, 2026.
The cap is a ceiling on everyone’s claims combined, not on any one person’s, and it matters most after a major derailment with many injured passengers. It applies to passenger claims against Amtrak, commuter railroads, freight railroads and states alike. It does not apply to railroad workers. The statute says it "shall not affect the damages that may be recovered under" FELA (§ 28103(d)), so an Amtrak employee hurt in the same accident is not limited by it.
How long do you have to file against Amtrak?
It depends on which path you are on. An Amtrak employee has three years from the day the claim accrued to file a FELA suit (45 U.S.C. § 56). For an injury that develops over time, the clock generally starts when you knew or should have known about the injury and its work-related cause. Our guide to the FELA statute of limitations explains the rules. An employee disciplined for reporting an injury has 180 days to file an FRSA complaint. Talks with a claim agent generally do not stop either clock. A passenger’s deadline comes from state law, generally two years for an injury in Illinois. In every case, the sooner a lawyer can secure event recorder data, video and witness names, the better. Tell us what happened.
