WASHINGTON — A CSX maintenance-of-way foreman was killed when he was struck by a ballast regulator while waiting for flaggers to arrive to protect a grade crossing, the National Transportation Safety Board said in the preliminary report issued Tuesday on an accident that occurred Feb. 13 in Roanoke Rapids, N.C.
The accident description confirms details in a Federal Railroad Administration safety alert issued after the incident [see “NTSB to investigate CSX employee death …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 13, 2024]. The NTSB report says a motorist saw the regulator strike the foreman and alerted the flagging crew; the foreman was found deceased about 61 feet north of the crossing. The ballast regulator had reversed direction and struck the foreman who was standing in the gage of the track.
The preliminary report indicates the ongoing NTSB investigation will focus on additional examination of the ballast regulator; CSX procedures for working around maintenance-of-way equipment; line-of-sight restrictions, change-of-direction alarms, and noise-level measurements related to operations of the ballast regulator.
