NTSB Issues Railroad Investigation Report 25-04

Aerial shot of the accident site that occurred on April 11, 2024.

Courtesy of UP

MCNEIL, Ark. - The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued Railroad Investigation Report 25-04, detailing its investigation into the UP employee fatality that occurred on April 11, 2024.

Announced on X, formerly Twitter, the NTSB’s RIR-25-04 goes into the incident that occurred last April when a Union Pacific manager of track maintenance was killed by a roadway maintenance machine (RMM) that was operated by a B&P employee on the main track on the Pine Bluff Subvidision near McNeil, Arkansas. UP and B&P employees were to remove the culvert and reinstall it at a lower position in the fill located beneath the track that day.

As part of their investigation, the NTSB conducted a reenactment to “evaluate visibility from the excavator’s cab.” They determined that the operator could not see workers that were walking from west to east on the south side of the excavator on the camera monitors, in the mirrors, or through the windows.

Part of the analysis concluded by NTSB investigators stated, “If a roadway worker needed to enter an RMM’s work zone, UP rules required the roadway worker to communicate with the operator, and the operator to stop all RMM movements and notify the roadway worker that it was safe to enter the work zone. Communication to enter the work zone could be done verbally by speaking to the operator, visually by making hand signals to the operator, or through a radio.” The investigation found that the probable cause of the fatality was “the manager entering the excavator’s work zone without informing the operator, as required by UP rules.” The entire report can be read at the link here.