Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Norfolk & Western Railway Co.

On July 19, 1974, in the switchyards of the Norfolk & Western Railway Company (N&W), in the city of Decatur, Macon County, Illinois, the steel head of a jumbo railroad tank car containing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was punctured by a coupler of a boxcar during a switching operation. The explosions and fires which followed caused seven deaths, injured many people, and did millions of dollars of property damage. The punctured tank car, known as GATX 41623, had been manufactured by General American Transportation Company (GATX) in 1971 and leased by GATX to Phillips Petroleum Company…