On August 29, 2022, about 9:14 p.m. local time, the conductor of Union Pacific Railroad train ISIEP 29 was killed during a shoving movement when two railcars of the train derailed in UP’s Alfalfa Yard in El Paso, Texas. The conductor was riding on the lead end of the first railcar when the train encountered a derail. The derail was placed on the yard lead earlier in the day to protect maintenance-of-way employees during an upcoming installation project. As the train entered the yard on the yard lead, the train encountered the derail device and two railcars derailed. One of these railcars overturned, landing on its side, then sliding into a residential property where it struck a natural gas line owned by Texas Gas Service. The railcar’s contact with the gas line did not result in a gas leak.
We determined that the probable cause of the August 29, 2022, employee fatality was the failure of personnel to contact the employee-in-charge before granting train ISIEP 29 permission to enter the yard lead track.
