On March 10, 2014, at12:55 a.m. eastern daylight time, a Metro-North Railroad (Metro-North) electrician was fatally struck by northbound train No.897 near milepost 3.2 at Control Point 3 (CP3) interlocking in Manhattan, New York. Three employees were attempting to re-energize tracks that had been out of service for maintenance. Two of the workers cleared the approaching train, but the third worker was struck by the train.
We determined that the probable cause of the accident was the miscommunication of the limits of on-track protection resulting from incomplete and inaccurate roadway worker job briefings. Contributing to the accident was use of a reference point for on-track protection (the AB Split) that was poorly understood by some of the workers on the track.
