NTSB Issues Preliminary Report on BNSF MoW Employee Fatality

An overhead map of the accident site in New Rockford, N.D.

Courtesy of the NTSB

NEW ROCKFORD, N.D. - The NTSB issued a preliminary report on its investigation into the Nov. 4th BNSF employee fatality in North Dakota.

The NTSB announced on X (formerly known as Twitter) the issuance of the preliminary report.

The ongoing investigation shows that around 11:00 a.m. on November 4th, a BNSF maintenance-of-way employee was driving a welding truck before being “struck and killed by BNSF freight train X-PTNNGT2-31A at a private highway-railroad grade crossing at milepost 128.1 near New Rockford, North Dakota.” At the accident site was a single main track, and the grade crossing had stop signs but no active warning devices. Along with the driver, there was a passenger in the welding truck who sustained injuries. In the freight train were an engineer and a conductor. The report says the train “consisted of 2 lead locomotives and 106 empty covered hopper cars” that were “traveling northwest from Dilworth, Minnesota to Minot, North Dakota.”

Along with the two employees in the welding truck was a second group of MoW employees in separate vehicles. The two employees in the welding truck were on the south side of the grade crossing and were “waiting for the second group to arrive and establish track protection.” According to the NTSB, they decided to move to the north side of the crossing to prepare for work. Just before the accident, the “employees in the welding truck began to back the welding truck over the grade crossing.” The second group of MoW employees observed this and broadcasted warnings over radio to alert the employees in the welding truck. The freight train was traveling at around 46 mph when it hit the welding truck on the front left side.

The NTSB conducted “sight distance observations, examined the track at the accident location and the damaged welding truck, reviewed images from the forward-facing camera of the locomotive and the inward-facing camera of the welding truck, tested the radio in the welding truck, reviewed BNSF safety practices and employee training, and completed interviews.”

The damage inflicted to equipment is estimated to be around $250,000, according to BNSF. A docket has not yet been released by the NTSB for the investigation, as of reporting.