UPDATE: Kin of 24 Killed in Metrolink Wreck to Get Average of $4.2 Million

Nearly three years after a fatal 2008 Metrolink crash in Chatsworth, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has determined the compensation for its victims, with families of those who died receiving an average of $4.2 million each.

According to investigators with the National Transportation Board, at 4:22 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2008, after Metrolink train No. 111 failed to stop at a red stop signal, it collided with a Southern Pacific train, killing 24 passengers and injuring an additional 101.

“The sound of the crash was deafening only to be replaced by complete, total and eerie silence,” Lichtman wrote in a 32-page judgment. “Almost all of the passengers who remained conscious during the ordeal and even those that were briefly rendered unconscious speak of this silence as being surreal.”

Though the 122 families and individuals awarded compensation had collectively sought up to $350 million, according to Lichtman, a federal law—the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act of 1997—limits a company's liability for a single train accident at $200 million.

At a hearing on May 31, Lichtman said the damages from the accident already exceeded $230 million and he estimated they would exceed $240 million before the hearings were completed, despite his best efforts to reduce all legitimate claims drastically.

The City News Service reports most of the families of adults killed in the head-on crash will be awarded $4.2 million; Parents of young people who died were awarded an average of $1.2 million.

Of the 101 injured passengers, three claimants were dismissed from the settlement. The others’ awards began at $12,000.

The decision comes just days after a group of 17 California legislators sent a to the chairman of Veolia, the French parent company from which Metrolink contracted train engineer Robert Sanchez, to ignore the $200 million cap and “adequately and fairly compensate the victims whose lives have been destroyed by the actions and choices of your employees.”

In their investigation, the NTSB investigators found that Sanchez, who also died in the crash, had been texting seconds before the collision, which took place near the intersection of Heather Lee Lane and Andora Avenue in Chatsworth. The train route originated at Los Angeles Union Station. Its final destination was to have been Moorpark.

Neither Metrolink nor Veolia have issued statements regarding Thursday's ruling as of yet.

City News Service contributed to this article.