​On November 11, 2020, about 9:43 a.m. local time, a Decatur & Eastern Illinois Railroad (DREI) conductor of train DREI 200-11 was killed while picking up railcars in the industrial facility of Cabot Corporation (Cabot) in Tuscola, Illinois. The Cabot industrial facility rail entrance was equipped with two gates next to the track that are required to be open for entry. As train DREI 200-11 approached the entrance, the conductor, who was riding the lead railcar in the direction of movement, encountered a gate that was fouling the track. The conductor positioned himself on the end ladder of the railcar and attempted to open the gate to clear the track without stopping and dismounting. Surveillance video showed the conductor grabbed the end of the gate with his hand and was pulled off the ladder onto the track, where he was struck by the train.3 (See figure 1.) The weather at the time was dry, daylight, 34°F and partly cloudy.

We determined that the probable cause of the conductor’s fatality was a result of his attempt to open the entrance gate at Cabot industrial facility fouling the track and being pulled from the end ladder of the moving railcar onto the track where he was subsequently struck by the train and killed.​​