​​​​​​​​This information is preliminary and subject to change.​ 

Release Date: 25 Sept. 2026

​On September 8, 2026, about 7:04 p.m. local time, a Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) conductor was seriously injured during a shoving movement into Conway Yard in Conway, Pennsylvania. 

After operating another train from Shire Oaks, Pennsylvania, to Conway Yard, the crew (an engineer and the injured conductor) was reassigned to Train 12NC307, at control point West Conway.[1] The crew was instructed to operate the train past control point East Conway onto main track 3 at the east end of the yard and to make a reverse movement westbound to shove the train into Conway Yard. The conductor got off the train at control point East Conway and, once the rear of the train stopped at his location, mounted the tank car at the rear of the train. He then instructed the engineer by radio that the track was clear for 20 railcar lengths and to begin shoving. During the shove, the engineer stopped receiving instruction from the conductor and was unable to contact him by radio, so he began stopping the train. As the train slowed, it experienced a train-line-initiated emergency brake application.[2] The engineer then contacted the train dispatcher and reported that he could not contact his conductor and that the train had experienced a train-line-initiated emergency brake application.

An NS manager found the injured conductor about eight railcar lengths from where the shove began. The conductor had fallen from the tank car and sustained severe injuries. The conductor was airlifted to a medical center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for treatment. Visibility was sunny and clear at the time of the accident; the weather was 80°F with no precipitation.

​​All aspects of the accident remain under investigation while the National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause and ways to prevent similar accidents.

Parties to the investigation include:

• ​the Federal Railroad Administration; 
• Norfolk Southern Railway; 
• the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen; and 
• the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers–Transportation Division.