I heard of one state, might have been Virginia or New Jersey, which passed a law stating that a "victim" cannot recover damages if injured while trespassing on railroad property. This is what is needed in ALL states.
It's too bad there is no way to make all lawsuits pass a common sense filter before they proceed. I realize the definition of "common sense" will vary and therein lies the problem.
Unfortunately it is often felt that if something awful happens to somebody, they should get a lot of money to make things better. We as a society have forgotten that in life, bad things sometimes happen to good people. That's life, deal with it, prepare for it! But the attitude now is no matter how unusual an accident is, SOMEBODY should have thought of the possibility so SOMEBODY should pay all sorts of money.
And when we do something like walking down a railroad track, and a train comes along those tracks, why of course the railroad should pay. After all, they are a big company, and we hear all the time that big companies are unfeeling and greedy so it's only justice to make them pay. It's way past time we get rid of the "corporation equals evil" mentality.
Ethics and integrity vary, be it individuals, small companies, or large corporations. When we start looking at all big companies (and NS certainly is big) as out to screw the little guy, it's a short jump to ignoring the personal responsibility for our own actions. Whether it's hot coffee or a train running on tracks, those big rich companies can easily afford it so sock it to them. That's a very warped, but too common, school of thought these days.
The soapbox is now yielded to the next speaker.