WASHINGTON — A Union Pacific conductor was killed at Proviso Yard earlier this month when the tank car he was riding during a shoving move struck the side of another train, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary report issued on Thursday, July 25.
The July 6 incident at the yard in Melrose Park, Ill., occurred about 1:36 a.m. The employee killed was later identified by the Cook County coroner as 27-year-old Justin Pender [see “Union Pacific worker killed …,” Trains News Wire, July 8, 2024].
The conductor’s train of 45 cars, MCBCH-05, was shoving west on the yard’s City Lead Track toward Track 12 at the same time another train, MPRNL-06, was traveling east out of Track 12 onto the South Melrose Track. Prior to the accident, the yardmaster had instructed the crew of MCBCH-05 to wait at the top of the City Lead Track until MPRNL-06 was clear before shoving into Track 12, but the train ultimately shoved past the top of the City Lead Track and into the left side of MPRNL-06 prior to the switch between the City Lead Track and South Melrose Track.
The preliminary report indicates future activity in the ongoing investigation will focus on UP’s conductor training standards, operational rules for riding equipment, and the design and riding configuration of the railcar involved in the incident.
This incident hurts my heart. The memory of riding the shove at night in the Florida rain and forgetting the “close clearance” of a siding is a memory that still gives me chills. And gratitude for the engineer dumping the air immediately and saving my sorry ass.
I agree with Bruce. It’s extremely important to maintain situational awareness and know where you are at any given time. There’s no worse feeling than making a move, unable to see your conductor and then losing communication. It happened once to me while putting my train away in Queensgate Yard. A long shove move and then radio silence. I was so relieved to eventually see my conductor walking up to the locomotive. His radio had died. Most of these incidents appear to happen at night.
This a a tragic example of what happens when you lose your situational awareness. The conductor lost his sense of location and ran his train into another.
As a retired engineer, I can only stress again to those still working not to get in a hurry and forget the dangers of railroading.
Yes, this can happen to you!