This information is preliminary and subject to change.
On August 27, 2024, about 10:10 p.m. local time, a Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) conductor was seriously injured while coupling railcars on track 11 at the NS Empty Yard in Lambert’s Point Yard in Norfolk, Virginia.1 The injured conductor was coupling railcars that had been gravity fed onto the track when railcars 20 through 40 unexpectedly rolled in his direction, pinching him between railcars 19 and 20.2 Visibility was low at the time of the accident. The weather was 78°F with no precipitation.
NS switching crew UL30 consisted of an engineer and the conductor.3 The railroad equipment in track 11 consisted of 1 locomotive, 2 slugs, and 40 empty gondola railcars.4 Railcars 1 through 19 were coupled to the locomotive and the slugs.
Before the accident, the crew was in the process of coupling railcars 20 through 40 to railcar 19 and the rest of the railroad equipment. The injured conductor and the engineer had made several unsuccessful attempts to couple railcars 19 and 20. The two railcars would not connect because of a damaged coupler component on railcar 19.
At the time of the accident, the injured conductor was under three-step protection, working on railcar 19’s coupler, when railcar 20 (along with railcars 21 through 40) unexpectedly rolled east and struck him.5 Emergency medical services transported the injured conductor to a nearby hospital where he was treated and released.
While on scene, National Transportation Safety Board investigators completed interviews; conducted an accident reenactment; reviewed NS’s policies and procedures; inspected the track, locomotives, and railcars; and reviewed radio communications and locomotive event recorder data.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation is ongoing. Future investigative activity will focus on additional interviews, NS policies and procedures, the emergency response to the accident, and railroad industry procedures for coupling railcars on tracks with gravity operations and a descending grade.
Parties to the investigation include:
- the Federal Railroad Administration;
- NS;
- the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen; and
- the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers.
[1] Crewmembers
couple equipment by connecting one piece of equipment (such as a railcar) to another.
[2] The gravity-fed dumper facility at Empty Yard in Lambert’s Point Yard operates on an eastward-descending grade; at the top of the grade, employees feed the full railcars into the dumper facility, which empties them, and then the empty railcars roll east onto receiving tracks.
[3] Switching operations involve moving railroad equipment from one track to another or to different positions on the same track.
[4] A slug is a locomotive that provides power to the train but does not have an operating cab.
[5] Three-step protection is an NS procedure used to ensure the engineer does not move the locomotive while an employee is working on equipment.
