WASHINGTON — A BNSF train was traveling about 46 mph when it struck a welding truck, killing a maintenance-of-way employee, in a Nov. 4 incident near New Rockford, N.D., the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary investigation report issued today (Nov. 27, 2024).
A second employee in the truck was injured, treated at a hospital, and released. The worker killed was later identified as 58-year-old Darrin Polansky of Brainerd, Minn. [see “BNSF worker killed …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 4, 2024].
The incident occurred about 11 a.m. at a grade crossing equipped with stop signs but no other warning devices such as flashing lights or crossing gates. The two workers in the welding truck were part of a maintenance-of-way team that included a second group of workers in other vehicles. As the second group approached the crossing, the workers in the welding truck decided to move from the south side of the crossing to the north side to prepare to work and began backing across the tracks; employees in the second group attempted to warn those in the welding truck by radio that the train was approaching.
NTSB investigators at the scene conducted sight distance observations and reviewed images from the train’s outward facing camera and the welding truck’s inward facing camera, among other activities. The ongoing investigation will focus on BNSF safety practices for maintenance employees.
