Bladder cancer in railroad workers

Diesel exhaust is one exposure researchers have studied for a possible link to bladder cancer. When the World Health Organization's cancer agency reviewed diesel exhaust, it concluded that diesel exhaust causes lung cancer, and it also flagged a link to bladder cancer, though the evidence was limited. That review names diesel trains as one of the places exposure comes from.

The American Cancer Society says truck drivers face elevated bladder cancer risk, probably because of diesel fumes. Machinists and painters carry a higher risk too, along with workers in industries that rely on certain organic chemicals. Certain chemicals used in the dye industry can cause bladder cancer, including benzidine and beta-naphthylamine.

In a set of lawsuits against Union Pacific, former employees at the Roseville, California rail yard say silica, diesel exhaust and fumes made them sick. The cancers named in their complaints include bladder, kidney and lung cancer.

Workplace exposures are not the only risk factors for bladder cancer. The American Cancer Society names these:

• Smoking, which accounts for roughly half of all bladder cancers
• Age, since close to nine in ten people diagnosed with bladder cancer are over 55
• Being male, as the disease strikes men more often
• Radiation therapy to the pelvis for another cancer
• Taking the chemotherapy drug cyclophosphamide for a long time
• Arsenic found in drinking water in certain regions, although most Americans do not get much arsenic from what they drink

The risk is especially high for people who smoke and also work around cancer-causing chemicals. If you smoked, that does not shut you out: under FELA, a worker who shares some of the blame can still be compensated, though a jury lowers the amount by the worker's share.

Most workers in America fall under state workers' compensation. Railroad workers do not. They collect their losses from the railroad through FELA. The law makes the railroad answerable when a worker is hurt or killed wholly or partly from negligence on the part of anyone acting for the railroad.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the railroad's negligence only needs to play some part, however small. The justices have also held that FELA covers gradual occupational diseases, not just accidents. And a worker is not treated as having accepted the risks that come with the work; the railroad still answers for harm its negligence caused.

Compensation can cover medical bills, wages lost now and later, and pain and suffering.

A FELA case must be brought within three years, and it can go to either a federal or a state court. With a disease that develops slowly, those three years begin when the effects of the exposure become clear. In one New Jersey case, the clock started once the worker's doctor told him the cancer was linked to his work, so it helps to note when a doctor first said that to you.

A January 2026 New Jersey appeals decision illustrates how this plays out. A railroad car inspector and locomotive mechanic learned he had bladder cancer in May 2014. His doctor said at the time that it was connected to what he had breathed at work. He filed on April 10, 2019, over three years after that diagnosis, and the court treated the claims based on the 2014 cancer as too late, with the appeals court upholding the end of his case. The trial court said a claim that work exposures worsened an existing injury could still proceed if filed within the three-year limit. The worker alleged that diesel exhaust after his diagnosis worsened his cancer or increased the risk of it returning; that was an allegation, not a court finding.

A free claim review usually goes over these points, so gathering them first can help:

1. Which railroads employed you and the years at each one.
2. The jobs you held.
3. The specific yards, shops, or lines where you spent your time.
4. What your diagnosis is and the date it was made.
5. When a doctor first told you the cancer could be connected to your work.

Your call and the short form both go to a firm that takes FELA cases for railroad workers and advertises on this site, and the claim review is free. The call may be recorded so the firm keeps a clear record of your work history.