On March 3, 2021, about 12:19 a.m. local time, a train conductor of BNSF Railway train H-BARLAC1-02 was killed during a shoving movement at Buena Park Yard in La Mirada, California. The train conductor was riding on the side ladder of the leading end of a boxcar during the shoving movement when he was pinned between the boxcar he was riding and a locomotive parked in a location that occupied the dynamic envelope of the adjacent track.
We determined that the probable cause of the March 3, 2021, BNSF Railway conductor fatality was the lack of conspicuous close clearance markers in Buena Park Yard that hindered the train conductor’s ability to clearly see and react to the railcars parked in a temporary close clearance location.
