On October 19, 2024, about 11:14 a.m., northbound Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) train 402 struck an employee who was part of a team of technicians tasked with performing maintenance work on wayside train approach lights. The approach lights are located about 280 feet north of a tunnel and in between the Arts Center Station and Lindbergh Center Station in Atlanta, Georgia. The employee (technician 1) sustained a below-the-knee amputation as a result of the strike. At the time of the accident, visibility conditions were clear; the temperature was 62˚F with no precipitation.
The probable cause of the employee injury was that the procedures for track protection afforded by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority at the time of the accident were insufficient for the location and type of work being performed and did not provide adequate warning time for the technicians to move to a place of safety before the train’s arrival. Contributing to this accident was the designated lookout person performing tasks not consistent with his duties, thereby failing to detect the oncoming train.
