On August 6, 2023, about 11:42 p.m. local time, a CSX Transportation conductor trainee was fatally injured during switching operations at the CSX railyard in Cumberland, Maryland. The conductor trainee was riding on the side of a railcar during an eastbound shoving movement that passed through a temporary close clearance location—a narrow gap between his train and three locomotives temporarily stored on an unusually close adjacent track. During this movement, he was caught between the railcar and a locomotive handrail.
We determined that the probable cause of the CSX Transportation employee fatality was the accident train’s movement through an unidentified and unmitigated close clearance location that resulted in the employee being caught between the side of the railcar he was riding and equipment parked on an adjacent track.
