What most Tennessee railroaders are never told is what happens in the first hours after a serious on-duty injury. While you are trying to get off the property and seek medical care, the railroad is already dispatching supervisors, claims agents, and attorneys whose purpose is to protect the carrier, not you.
From the moment you are hurt, you need a qualified, experienced FELA railroad injury lawyer in Tennessee in your corner to protect your rights, your job, and your future claim. The Tennessee railroad injury lawyers from Poolson | Oden have secured more than $31 million for our clients in the last five years alone. Let us add yours to these success stories.
Steps to Take After a Railroad Injury in Tennessee
The actions you take after a railroad injury can determine the strength of your legal claim. With that in mind, you should:
- Report the injury immediately: Notify your employer as soon as possible and make sure the incident is properly documented. At Radnor, Coster, Memphis Intermodal, or on any Tennessee line, formal documentation creates the record your claim depends on.
- Document everything: Take photos of the accident scene, gather witnesses’ contact information, and keep records of your medical treatment and expenses. Conditions at Tennessee’s busy automotive and intermodal yards change quickly once management responds to an incident.
- Complete the P.I. Report: Complete the Personal Injury Report accurately and in your own words — including every injured body part and every unsafe condition you observed. Do not let a supervisor complete it for you or minimize your account.
- Do NOT give a recorded statement to the Railroad – you are NOT required to: Your employer or their representatives may try to use your words against you. Do not give a statement until you have consulted a FELA lawyer.
- You do NOT have to see the Railroad’s doctor — see your own physician: Even if your injuries seem minor, getting an independent medical evaluation is essential for both your health and your claim. The railroad’s designated medical provider serves the carrier’s interests. Yours does not.
- Follow your doctor’s instructions: Failing to follow medical advice can hurt both your recovery and your legal claim.
- Submit Work Status Forms: Timely submit the required medical and work-status forms so the railroad cannot claim you failed to protect your job or attempt to mark you absent without authorization.
Your very first call after an on-duty injury should be to Poolson | Oden — before you give a recorded statement, fill out the Personal Injury Report, let the railroad steer you to its doctor, or rush through your injury paperwork.
Poolson | Oden can help with every step of this process, and we are here to serve you.
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Contact Our Experienced Attorneys Today to Get Back On The Right Track.
What Is the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) and a FELA Railroad Injury Claim?
The Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) is a federal law that gives railroad workers the right to take legal action against their employer following a work-related injury. These claims focus on whether the railroad failed to provide a safe place to work or acted negligently.
FELA cases are not workers’ compensation cases. Under the FELA, you must prove the railroad played a role in causing your injury. In return, you may recover a wider range of damages than in a typical workplace claim — including lost wages, past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.
A FELA claim may apply if:
- Unsafe working conditions caused your injury.
- Equipment failed or was poorly maintained.
- A coworker’s actions contributed to the accident.
- The railroad failed to follow federal safety rules.
Poolson | Oden handles these claims for Tennessee railroaders and nationwide. We know how to build strong cases under FELA (45 U.S. Code Chapter 51 et seq.).
Common Injuries That Our Tennessee FILA Railroad Injury Lawyers Represent
Our Tennessee FELA railroad injury lawyers handle a comprehensive range of cases specific to the severe and catastrophic injuries suffered by those working in Tennessee’s railroad system, including:
- Back and neck injuries from whole-body vibration on the former Clinchfield’s mountain corridor, heavy lifting at Coster and Radnor, and the sustained physical demands of automotive rack car operations
- Broken bones and crush injuries from coupling accidents at Radnor, Coster, and Memphis Intermodal; equipment failures on the Unicoi Mountain grades; and automotive rail incidents in the middle Tennessee corridor
- Burns and injuries from locomotive systems, chemical exposure incidents in the Kingsport industrial corridor, and equipment failures in Tennessee’s yard and shop environments
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) from falls in yard and shop environments, being struck by moving equipment, or train handling events on the former Clinchfield’s steep grades
- Cumulative trauma and repetitive stress injuries from careers on the Clinchfield mountain corridor, at Coster Shops, and in Nashville’s automotive rail complex
- Hearing loss from chronic occupational noise in locomotive cabs, the Coster shop environment, and Memphis’ intermodal operations
- Kingsport industrial railroad corridor chemical exposure claims from workers who handled tank cars and industrial rail movements within or adjacent to the Eastman Chemical complex
- Occupational disease and cancer from asbestos (Coster Shops legacy exposure), diesel exhaust, benzene, silica, and creosote
- Wrongful death claims for families who have lost a railroader in Tennessee’s railroad operations
If you have been hurt in a railroad accident, a FELA claim allows you to pursue damages tied to the full effect of the injury on your life and your family’s future. Don’t Get Railroaded®. Stay on Track with our team of lawyers that are here to serve you and your family.
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Railroad Retaliation: The Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA)
FRSA is a vital federal law that protects railroad personnel across all states, including Tennessee.
The Federal Railroad Safety Act grants railroad workers the freedom to raise concerns about safety — such as reporting an injury or a safety violation — without worrying about being punished or retaliated against by the railroad employer.
Tennessee railroad workers should feel secure reporting injuries and safety violations without fear of retaliation. In Tennessee’s automotive rail corridor, where the just-in-time demands of assembly plant logistics create production pressure that management may use to discourage safety reporting, FRSA’s protections are especially important.
In the small railroad communities of eastern Tennessee — Erwin, Unicoi County, Johnson City — where the railroad has been the primary employer for generations, the social and economic pressure on a worker who reports an injury can be significant and immediate.
We aggressively pursue FRSA claims when Tennessee railroad employers respond to safety reports with harassment, demotion, or termination.
Mike Berry, an FRSA Railroad Whistleblower we represented, said our firm “stood up for me and my family when no one else would.” If you are facing retaliation for exercising your federal safety rights in Tennessee, call us immediately.
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Protecting Union Rights: Our Commitment to Tennessee Railroad Workers
Poolson | Oden Injury Lawyers are proud to be Union-approved Designated Legal Counsel (DLC), advocating for the rights of union workers nationally, including those working throughout Tennessee. We handle FELA and FRSA cases for designated unions:
- SMART-TD Union
- Transportation Communications Union (“TCU”) / TCU/IAM
We also continue to represent members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (“BLET”). The BLET recommends hiring attorneys who belong to the Academy of Rail Labor Attorneys (ARLA), and both Danny Poolson and Carisa Oden are longstanding ARLA members.
We have experience representing workers from unions including SMART TD, BLE, TCU, BMEW, IBEW, and USW. Our core commitment is Defending Union Worker Rights and Enforcing Our Clients’ Right To Work.
Filing in Federal or State Court: Why Venue Is a Strategic Decision for Tennessee FELA Cases
If you are a railroad worker injured on the job in Tennessee, you have the right to pursue compensation under FELA.
One of Tennessee railroaders’ most important and frequently misunderstood legal advantages is this: FELA allows you to file your case in either federal court or Tennessee state court — and that venue decision belongs to you and your attorney, not to the railroad. The railroad cannot remove a FELA case filed in state court to federal court.
The right venue for your Tennessee FELA case depends on the specific facts of your injury, the nature of the railroad’s negligence, and the current legal landscape in each forum. We evaluate venue strategically for every Tennessee railroad worker we represent, guiding every decision from the moment of the first call.
Tennessee Rail Yards and Carriers
We serve railroaders throughout Tennessee and the following yards and carriers:
| TENNESSEE RAILROAD YARD | RAILROAD CARRIER |
| RADNOR | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| KAYNE AVENUE | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| NASHVILLE TRANSFLO | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| CHARLOTTE TRANSFLO | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| CHARLOTTE REGIONAL INTERMODAL | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| LEEWOOD | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| LEEWOOD (UP) | UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY |
| BOSTIC | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| GUTHRIE | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| BRUCETON | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| SPRING HILL PLANT | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| SMYRNA NISSAN PLANT | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| FORD LEAD | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| ERWIN | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| KINGSPORT | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| PINOCA | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| ETOWAH | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| TRANSFLO TERMINAL | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| WEST KNOXVILLE | CSX TRANSPORTATION |
| COSTER | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| COSTER BULK TRANSFER | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| KNOXVILLE CITY | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| SEVIER | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| EMORY GAP | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| ONEIDA | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| OAKDALE | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| CALHOUN | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| FORREST | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| WARD | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| OYAMA | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| MEMPHIS REGIONAL INTERMODAL | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| ROSSVILLE INTERMODAL | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| KINGSPORT TANK | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| ASHEVILLE | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| JOHNSON CITY (NS) | NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY |
| JOHNSON CITY (ETRY) | EAST TENNESSEE RAILWAY, L.P. |
| FOR LINE | KNOXVILLE & HOLSTON RIVER RAILROAD COMPANY, INC. |
| FULTON | CANADIAN NATIONAL – NORTH AMERICA |
| HOLLYWOOD | CANADIAN NATIONAL – NORTH AMERICA |
| ARMOREL #2 | BNSF RAILWAY COMPANY |
| MT PLEASANT | TENNESSEE SOUTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY, INC. |
| JACKSON | WEST TENNESSEE RAILROAD, LLC |
| MILAN | WEST TENNESSEE RAILROAD, LLC |
| NERR SHOPS | NASHVILLE & EASTERN RAILROAD CORP |
| SHOPS (NERR) | NASHVILLE & EASTERN RAILROAD CORP |
| PLANT MARSHALL | PLATE VALLEY TROLLEY |
| FT CAMPBELL | U.S. GOVERNMENT |
Acute On-Duty Accidents in Tennessee Railyards
Tennessee’s acute railroad injury profile reflects three operating environments that each generate their own injury patterns: the former Clinchfield’s Appalachian mountain corridor, Nashville’s automotive rail complex, and Memphis’s high-volume intermodal gateway.
The Former Clinchfield Railroad’s Main Line
The former Clinchfield Railroad’s main line through the Unicoi Mountains between Erwin, Tennessee, and Spruce Pine, NC represents one of the steepest grade profiles of any active Class I freight main line in the eastern United States.
With ruling grades approaching 1.8% on some segments and horseshoe curves that make train length a critical safety variable, the Clinchfield corridor creates dynamic train-handling demands that require properly functioning brake systems, properly trained crews, and properly maintained equipment without exception.
CSX now operates this corridor, but the physical demands of the route are unchanged from the days when Clinchfield’s own crews ran it — and when those demands are not met with adequate equipment and training, the results for workers are severe. A CSX conductor performing a set-out on a steep Unicoi Mountain industrial lead when brake system components fail to hold.
An engineer managing a heavy freight train’s descent from the Clinchfield summit when an air hose fails at a critical moment. These are not hypothetical scenarios. They are the documented injury patterns of a mountain railroad corridor that has been producing them for over a century.
CSX’s Radnor Yard
At CSX’s Radnor Yard in Nashville, the automotive rail complex’s production demands create a distinct acute injury environment. Radnor serves as the logistics backbone for middle Tennessee’s automotive assembly economy — the Nissan Smyrna plant, GM’s Spring Hill facility, and Ford’s middle Tennessee operations all flow through CSX’s Nashville network. The pace of automotive just-in-time rail logistics means that Radnor’s operations run against assembly plant schedules that tolerate no supply interruptions.
A switchman at Radnor caught between cars during a trim movement when the production pressure to keep automotive parts moving overrides safe coupling procedures.
A carman performing a brake inspection on an automotive rack car when defective equipment fails. Under FELA’s “even slightly” negligence standard, CSX is accountable when production pressure for its automotive clients overrides the safety obligations it owes its workers.
NS’s Regional Intermodal Facility & Rossville Intermodal
In Memphis, NS’s Regional Intermodal facility and the Rossville Intermodal complex constitute one of the most operationally active intermodal gateways in the mid-South.
The volume of intermodal traffic moving through Memphis — connecting the Southeast to the Midwest and the Gulf Coast — creates the same production pressure and equipment maintenance demands that any high-volume intermodal facility produces, amplified by Memphis’s role as the distribution center for a multi-state regional economy.
Our Tennessee FILA railroad injury attorneys build the case that holds NS accountable when that pressure causes negligence that injures a worker.
Cumulative Trauma on the Volunteer State’s Rails
Cumulative trauma in Tennessee railroading reflects the specific physical demands of three distinct operating environments that produce their own patterns of long-term injury.
The Former Clinchfield Corridor
CSX engineers and conductors who have spent careers working the former Clinchfield corridor — managing heavy trains through the Unicoi Mountains’ grades and curves, absorbing the whole-body vibration of a mountain main line whose track geometry is perpetually challenged by grade, curvature, and the weight of the trains it carries — develop the spinal disc disease, facet joint deterioration, and chronic musculoskeletal injury that mountain railroad operations accumulate across a career.
The dynamic brake cycling, the lateral forces through horseshoe curves, and the sustained physical engagement of managing a long, heavy train through terrain that demands continuous attention produce a cumulative injury profile that the railroad will call aging.
Our Tennessee FILA railroad injury lawyers call it the foreseeable product of a career on one of the steepest active freight main lines in the eastern United States.
Coster Yard and Shops
Coster Yard and Shops in Knoxville — NS’s primary eastern Tennessee facility — have been producing the cumulative injuries of heavy maintenance work for over a century.
Workers at Coster who have spent careers maintaining NS motive power and equipment in the shop’s industrial environment develop the bilateral shoulder injuries of sustained overhead and lateral heavy component work, the lumbar disc disease of years in confined undercar and pit environments, and the hearing loss of decades in a major railroad maintenance shop.
The surgeries that follow — rotator cuff reconstructions, cervical and lumbar fusions, knee replacements — are the foreseeable product of Coster’s working conditions, not random aging.
Radnor Yard
Radnor Yard workers in Nashville accumulate the repetitive physical demands of automotive rail logistics: coupling and uncoupling on automotive rack cars whose height and configuration create coupling mechanics different from standard freight equipment, climbing and descending multi-level auto racks, and performing sustained physical work against the clock of assembly plant delivery schedules.
The middle Tennessee automotive rail corridor’s demand that parts move continuously regardless of conditions means that the worker’s physical wear is the cost of the railroad’s commitment to its automotive clients. Our FILA railroad injury attorneys in Tennessee prove that connection.
Tennessee’s Railroad Occupational Exposure Profile
Tennessee’s railroad occupational exposure profile reflects both standard freight railroad hazards and the specific industrial character of its primary maintenance facility.
Asbestosis Exposure
Coster Shops in Knoxville represents Tennessee’s most historically significant railroad occupational exposure site. As NS’s primary eastern Tennessee maintenance facility — operating on infrastructure with deep roots in the Norfolk and Western and Southern Railway predecessors — Coster has serviced motive power and equipment across the full industrial era of American railroading.
Workers who maintained older NS equipment at Coster through the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s were exposed to asbestos in brake linings, locomotive insulation, gaskets, and cab materials.
The volume of older equipment serviced at a regional maintenance facility serving the full spectrum of NS’s eastern operations means that Coster workers’ asbestos exposure histories deserve careful investigation for mesothelioma, asbestosis, and asbestos-related pulmonary disease.
Diesel Exhaust
Diesel exhaust — the EPA’s confirmed human carcinogen, linked to lung cancer, bladder cancer, and other serious disease — is a persistent occupational hazard at Radnor’s and Coster’s enclosed fueling and servicing facilities and at Memphis’ intermodal complex, where multiple locomotives idle simultaneously in servicing environments.
Tennessee’s summer heat and humidity — comparable in intensity to Florida’s mid-summer conditions in the July and August peak — keep diesel exhaust’s volatile organic compounds airborne longer than in cooler, drier environments, compounding the exposure concentration in semi-enclosed yard servicing facilities during the hottest months of the year.
Chemical Exposure
The Kingsport industrial corridor — where NS’s Kingsport and Kingsport Tank facilities serve one of the most concentrated chemical manufacturing complexes in the American Southeast — creates a railroad chemical exposure environment specific to eastern Tennessee.
The Eastman Kodak / Eastman Chemical complex in Kingsport, served by NS rail operations, is one of the largest specialty chemical manufacturing facilities in the country. Railroad workers handling tank cars and industrial rail movements within or adjacent to the Kingsport chemical corridor have occupational exposure histories to acetate, acetaldehyde, and various chemical processing byproducts that standard freight railroad diesel and asbestos exposure evaluations do not address.
If you worked in the Kingsport industrial railroad corridor, your exposure history deserves specific investigation.
Other Exposure Risks
Silica dust from ballast work on Tennessee’s mountain main lines — particularly on the former Clinchfield corridor through the Unicoi Mountains, where ballast operations involve crushed stone with elevated silica content in confined cut environments — is a respiratory hazard for trackmen.
Benzene in locomotive fuels, hydraulic fluids, and shop solvents is present throughout Tennessee’s yard and shop environments. Creosote on wooden crossties across the state’s secondary and branch network is a dermal and respiratory carcinogen.
Mesothelioma, lung cancer, bladder cancer, leukemia, and serious pulmonary and kidney disease caused by these exposures may not manifest until years or decades after the railroad work was done.
FELA’s limitations period runs from when a worker knew or reasonably should have known of the connection between their illness and their railroad work. If you or a family member has received a serious diagnosis after a career on Tennessee’s railroads — especially after service at Coster Shops, in the Kingsport industrial corridor, or on the former Clinchfield main line — call us today for a free case evaluation. There is no cost and no obligation.
Specialized Railroad Practice: FELA and FRSA in the Tennessee Rail System
Poolson | Oden specializes in the federal laws that protect injured railroad workers: the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) and the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA).
Our focus is clear: holding negligent railroads accountable under FELA and FRSA. We bring over 80 years of legal experience to every case and have recovered more than $31 million within the last five (5) years for seriously injured railroaders and their families. We are a Client Rated 5-Star Law Firm committed to turning your Disaster into Determination.
By 2028, we aim to help 500+ families who are battling injuries. We are with you, protecting you every step of the way.
Our Promise of Care and Results
As your FELA railroad injury lawyers in Tennessee, our job is not just legal — it’s personal. We understand the physical and financial devastation caused by a catastrophic railroad injury in Tennessee — what it means for a family when a railroader who worked at Radnor Yard, Coster Shops, the former Clinchfield corridor, the Kingsport industrial rail network, or the Memphis intermodal gateway can no longer work.
Our job is to know the exact law, the facts, and the medicine to fully evaluate and analyze your case and obtain the maximum result for you and your family. We work closely with our clients’ doctors and medical providers to ensure top-notch care, and we fight to make the railroad’s negligence answer for what it has done to you.
We offer four key promises to every client facing a severe injury:
- Providing For Our Clients’ Family: We maximize our clients’ recovery so they can take care of their families.
- Protecting Our Clients’ Medical Rights: We help our clients work with the best doctors to get the necessary medical treatment and testing.
- Enforcing Our Clients’ Right To Work.
- Defending Union Worker Rights.
Resources and Next Steps
Protect your rights and stay informed with our valuable resources:
- Listen To The Stay On Track Podcast
- Download Your Free Guidebook: Don’t Get Railroaded® — Learn what mistakes NOT to make after an accident
- Download Coping with a Railroad Injury
- Download Right On Track, Railroaders’ Most Common Questions
Talk With Poolson | Oden About Your Tennessee FELA Railroad Injury Claim
Poolson | Oden stands with injured Tennessee railroad workers and their families when accidents happen.
We know what to look for in FELA cases at Radnor Yard and Nashville’s automotive corridor, at Coster Shops in Knoxville, on the former Clinchfield’s mountain grades, in the Kingsport industrial railroad corridor, and at the Memphis intermodal gateway.
Our railroad injury lawyers will review your case, explain how federal law applies to your specific circumstances, and pursue the full damages your injury has caused.
We prepare each claim carefully and are ready to take the case to trial if needed. We travel for consultations anywhere in Tennessee and maintain close contact throughout your case so you always know where things stand.
If you suffered a catastrophic railroad injury in Tennessee, contact us today to schedule a free initial case evaluation and get started on the path to the full compensation you and your family deserve.
Call us today — our team is available 24/7, 365 days a year.
