Rachel Barton

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Rachel Barton (now Rachel Barton Pine) is a violinist from Chicago, born on October 11, 1974. Considered a child prodigy at the violin, she started playing at 3 and a half years old and played in many reknown venues through her child and teen years.

On January 16, 1995, Rachel Barton was exiting a Metra train going from Ravenswood to Winnetka to teach violin lessons when her violin got caught in a closing door of the train. The violin was a 400-year-old Amati violin valued at around $500,000. The doors failed to open again despite having something stuck in them, and she was dragged 366 feet by the train before being pulled underneath and run over, severing one leg and severely mangling the other.

Rachel Barton sued Metra and in 1999, the case went to court. Metra tried to argue that Barton made the choice not to let go of the strap of her violin due to the value of the instrument, and therefore she carried most of the blame for her injuries. The jury decided otherwise, however, and awarded Barton $29 million. They only assigned her 4.5% of the fault in the case.

Since then, she has gone back to performing and has performed at various venues worldwide. Due to her leg injury, she must sit instead of stand at solo performances, and some have argued that her career opportunities have increased since the accident.