​​This information is preliminary and subject to change.

​Release date 8 July 2025

​On June 9, 2025, about 3:26 p.m. local time, a Union Pacific Railroad (UP) conductor was killed during switching operations at the Nacogdoches Yard on the Lufkin Subdivision, located in Nacogdoches, Texas.[1] The crew was performing a shoving movement with two locomotives and five railcars on the mainline track when the railcar the conductor was riding on sideswiped another railcar that was fouling track 747.[2]  Visibility conditions at the time of the accident were clear with no precipitation; the temperature was 88°F.

​The train crew consisted of a conductor and an engineer. Shortly before the accident, the Nacogdoches Yard manager of train operations (MTO) worked most of the day assessing the conductor’s proficiency as the conductor performed his tasks for the day. The MTO was with the conductor from 8:30 a.m. until about 3:10 p.m. Before the MTO departed, he held a job briefing with the conductor to review his remaining tasks. After the MTO departed, the conductor commenced the switching operation in which the accident occurred. At that time, the train consist involved in the switching operations was made up of eight railcars; three were loaded and five were empty. The MTO instructed the conductor to move the three loaded railcars on the mainline track to track 747. However, the conductor made an incorrect cut of railcars leaving the most southern railcar in the cut in the foul of track 747.[3]

The crew then pulled south of the 747 switch where the conductor aligned the switch to enter track 747 from the mainline track. The conductor then mounted the side of the trailing railcar and began the shoving movement northbound to move the railcars to track 747. During this movement, the conductor was struck when the train sideswiped the most southern of the three empty railcars that had been left on the mainline track in the foul of track 747. (See figure.)

While on scene, National Transportation Safety Board investigators:

• inspected the railcars involved in the accident; 
• examined conditions of the tracks; reviewed footage from surveillance videos, the event recorder from the lead locomotive, and the inward- and outward-facing image recorders;
• performed sight distance observations; 
• reviewed radio and phone communications; 
• collected toxicology samples for laboratory examination; 
• conducted a reenactment of the accident; ​
• reviewed UP’s training program documentation, company policies, and procedures; and
• conducted interviews. 

The investigation is ongoing. Future investigative activity will focus on conductor training and certification programs, rules compliance, safety oversight, and operating procedures related to shoving movements.

Parties to the investigation include: 

• the Federal Railroad Administration; 
• Union Pacific Railroad; 
• the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen; and 
• the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers.