Train accidents often occur because of human error, problems with the track, equipment, and/or signal. Oftentimes many people are injured because of train accidents. There are many factors that lead to a railroad accident and there are many people who may be liable. It is the responsibility of the railroad company to maintain the tracks and the train. But truck and car drivers are responsible if they do not follow laws that are intended to protect against accidents. People who are injured in train accidents may be compensated for their injury, lost income, and pain and suffering.
Lamy is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States, to the south of the city of Sante Fe. The community was named for Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy, and lies within the Bishop John Lamy Spanish Land Grant, which dates back to the eighteenth century. Lamy is part of the Santa Fe, New Mexico Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 137 at the 2000 census. The former Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad (ATSF), now the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), passes through Lamy. This railroad, usually called just the "Santa Fe," was originally planned to run from Atchison, Kansas, on the Missouri River, to Santa Fe, the capital city of New Mexico, and then points west. However, as the tracks progressed west into New Mexico, the civil engineers in charge realized that the hills surrounding Santa Fe made this impractical. Hence, they built the railway line though Lamy, instead. Later on, a spur line was built from Lamy to Santa Fe, bringing the railroad to Santa Fe at last. In 1896 the Fred Harvey Company built the luxurious El Ortiz Hotel here. Thus Lamy became an important railroad junction. In 1992 the spur line was taken over by the Santa Fe Southern Railway, which operates a popular excursion train, using vintage passenger railcars and modern freight cars, between Santa Fe and Lamy. The significance of Lamy as a railroad junction is related in the Oscar-nominated documentary, The Day After Trinity (1980), about the building of the first atomic bomb, and is referred to by instrumental group the California Guitar Trio in a five-part suite Train to Lamy on their second album Invitation (1995).