This information is preliminary and subject to change.
On June 16, 2025, about 9:53 p.m. local time, a Fairfield Southern Company employee (footboard yardmaster) was fatally injured during switching operations at US Steel Flintridge Yard in Fairfield, Alabama.[1] The crew was performing a shoving movement with 2 remote-control locomotives and 11 railcars moving from track 1 onto track 4. [2] The footboard yardmaster was riding on the lead railcar when he struck the stationary railcar on the adjacent track 3 due to the reduced clearance between the two railcars. (See figure.) Visibility conditions at the time of the accident were dark with intermittent showers; the temperature was 71°F.
At the time of the accident, the crew consisted of one remote control operator (RCO) and two footboard yardmasters.
After aligning the 1-4 switch onto track 4, the accident footboard yardmaster mounted the ladder rungs on the west side of the leading railcar and instructed the RCO, using his handheld radio, to reverse the train onto track 4. As the movement entered track 4, the leading railcar passed through a section of track with close clearances between stationary railcars that had been previously staged on an adjacent track (track 3).[3] At some point, the footboard yardmaster riding the movement instructed the RCO to stop and the RCO responded by placing the train into emergency braking. A short time later, the injured footboard yardmaster requested medical assistance over his handheld radio. Emergency services were dispatched to his location and began transporting him to a nearby hospital. The footboard yardmaster succumbed to his injuries during transport.
While on scene, National Transportation Safety Board investigators conducted mechanical inspections of the accident railcars and remote control locomotives; examined the switch and tracks; performed sight-distance observations; reviewed event recorder data, outward-facing image recorder data, and radio communications; collected toxicology samples for laboratory examination; conducted a reenactment of the accident; reviewed Fairfield Southern Company’s site-specific training programs and Transtar’s, LLC company policies and procedures; and conducted interviews.
The investigation is ongoing. Future investigative activity will focus on Transtar's operational rules and training for employees involved in switching operations, riding equipment, the identification of close clearances across industrial plant railroads, and the effectiveness of the external oversight for nonregulated railroads within industrial plants.
Parties to the investigation include:
- Fairfield Southern Company (a subsidiary of Transtar LLC);
- Transtar, LLC; and
- United Steelworkers
[1] (a) Fairfield Southern Company, a subsidiary of Transtar, LLC, is an in-plant switching railway
service for US Steel’s Fairfield steel-producing operations. It operates approximately 15 miles of track within the facility and has access to railroad interchanges with other rail carriers for the movement of raw materials into the plant and finished products out to market. (b) A
footboard yardmaster is a hybrid position that combines the duties of both a traditional conductor and yardmaster into one position and acts as the foreman of a crew using a remote control. The fatally injured footboard yardmaster was the foreman of the job that was being worked, with the additional footboard yardmaster assigned as a helper. (c)
Switching operations is the process of moving rail equipment from one track to another track or to different positions on the same track and does not constitute a train movement.
[2] A
shoving movement is the process of pushing railcars from the rear with a locomotive. Shoving movements are frequently used in switching operations.
[3] This was a temporary close clearance that was created by the structural conditions of the nonregulated captive railcar on the adjacent track. The stationary railcar was bowed out in the middle and extended out further over the railcar body and tracks. The track centerlines in this section of track were also reduced at the point of the accident. The combination of the two factors created the temporary close clearance..
