Carmen Hernandez survived being struck by an Amtrak train near Espee Avenue and 21st Street in Richmond two years ago, but the crash left her permanently disabled, and she now requires nursing-home care. Hernandez suffered a cut-open head, a dislocated elbow, and a broken spine, pelvis and right hand, injuries so severe that she now needs constant medical supervision and feeding assistance.
Hernandez has filed a lawsuit against the City of Richmond, arguing that the city's long-standing failure to maintain a fence along the railroad tracks caused the near-fatal crash, according to The Mercury News. The lawsuit alleges the city failed to replace a large section of fence by the tracks and failed to maintain adequate fencing, gates and barriers in the area, per the suit. That fence failure, the complaint claims, enabled Hernandez's access to the railroad tracks, where she was crossing illegally at the time of the collision.
Per the lawsuit, the stretch of tracks near Espee Avenue and 21st Street had been used by neighborhood residents as an informal pedestrian crossing. The corridor takes its name from the historic Southern Pacific Railroad, known locally as “Espee,” and cuts through residential and industrial blocks where Richmond police logs have recorded frequent public safety responses over the years.
Amtrak and Union Pacific Also Named in Suit
Court filings in Contra Costa County show that the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, known as Amtrak, and Union Pacific Railroad Company were named alongside the city as defendants in December 2025. The filing underscores that Amtrak operates its passenger trains over rights-of-way owned and maintained by Union Pacific in Richmond, a distinction that matters because the tracks themselves are typically private railroad property while adjacent fencing and public access points can fall under municipal control.
Richmond Station, where the collision occurred nearby, functions as a major regional hub serving Amtrak's Capitol Corridor, San Joaquins and California Zephyr lines along three ground-level tracks owned by Union Pacific, according to background compiled from Wikipedia. It is one of only two Bay Area transfer points linking BART and Amtrak service.
City Stays Silent on Pending Litigation
Richmond city officials did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit, and the city has a practice of not commenting on pending litigation, per the Mercury News report. The paper's account is drawn largely from Hernandez's court filings and remains the primary source detailing her injuries and the allegations against the city.
The Legal Bar for Suing a California City
Under California Government Code Section 835, a plaintiff suing a municipality over a dangerous property condition must prove the location created a substantial risk of injury during reasonably foreseeable use, and that the city had actual or constructive notice in time to fix it, according to Cutter Law P.C. Public entities in California otherwise carry statutory immunity unless those notice and danger elements are proven in court.
Before any such suit can even reach a courtroom, state law requires an administrative claim first. California Government Code Section 911.2 mandates that formal claims for personal injury against a local government agency be submitted within six months of the incident, according to Gammill Law. Missing that six-month window generally bars a plaintiff from pursuing litigation in court at all.
California Leads the Nation in Rail Trespass Deaths
Hernandez's case lands amid a grim statewide pattern. California recorded 307 rail trespass casualties in 2024, including 182 fatalities, giving it a trespass death rate nearly 2.5 times higher than any other state, according to California Operation Lifesaver. Pedestrian trespassing and grade-crossing collisions combined account for more than 95 percent of all rail fatalities statewide.
Nationally, preliminary Federal Railroad Administration figures show 1,317 pedestrian rail trespass casualties in 2025, including 792 fatalities and 525 injuries, per Operation Lifesaver's national tracking. Roughly 86 percent of all U.S. trespass casualties occur in just 25 states, with California leading that list. Separate analysis from the National Safety Council found that trespassers accounted for 97 percent of all rail-related deaths nationwide in 2025, totaling 651 fatalities, even as the Association of American Railroads reported that Class I freight railroads cut overall train accident rates by 15 percent year-over-year in 2024 — evidence, the trade group says, that operational safety gains have not eliminated pedestrian trespass risk on private rail property.
Fencing Funds Already Flowing to the Corridor
Regional transit officials have already begun directing money toward the kind of physical barriers at the center of Hernandez's lawsuit. In September 2023, the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority was awarded $42.51 million in Federal Railroad Administration grant funding, with part of it designated for right-of-way security fencing to deter trespassers along the Northern California rail corridor, according to reporting by the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority. Perimeter fencing remains a primary strategy transit agencies use to close off informal pedestrian crossings like the one described in Hernandez's suit.
