Safety

An NS conductor trainee was killed on Dec. 13 in Bessemer, Ala., when a metal object from a train passing on the adjacent main track pierced a window of the locomotive cab and struck the crewman.

https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot.gov/files/2022-12/Safety%20Bulletin%202022-1.pdf

The FRA is investigating the accident, which involved a piece of angle iron protruding from a freight car.

“Based on FRA’s preliminary results from its ongoing investigation, the piece of angle iron appears to have been part of the freight car (not lading, but a repair to the carbody side top cord of a scrap metal gondola car) that was starting to dislodge from the carbody. It appears that the piece of angle iron was in this state when the car was pulled from the customer, moved to a yard, and then added to a different train on the main track,” the Dec. 20 bulletin says.