WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board is calling for new rules regarding crew members riding shoving moves through grade crossings as a result of a fatal October 2021 accident in Houston, Texas.
The board has recommended that crew members be prohibited from riding such moves through crossings equipped only with warning lights or passive warning devices, such as crossbucks, unless ground protection is provided. That recommendation is included in the final report issued Tuesday on the Oct. 29, 2021, death of a Watco Dock and Rail conductor when the truck and train collided at a grade crossing outside the Greens Port Industrial Park in Houston.
The incident occurred about 4:02 a.m., and the conductor was riding the leading car in a shoving move when he was pinned between the train and truck as they entered the grade crossing simultaneously. While the vehicle driver was required by his company’s code of conduct to stop before entering a grade crossing, he did not do so. The NTSB determined this was the probable cause of the accident; the report concludes the train’s movement through a passive grade crossing without adequate protection was a contributing factor.
As a result, the NTSB is calling on the Federal Administration, railroads, and their rules organizations to require ground protection at grade crossings without crossing gates, having concluded that this would “assure trains do not enter the crossing until it is clearly seen by the train crew that no traffic is approaching or stopped at the crossing.”
do you know how many times I’ve had to jump out of the way of approaching vehicles while protecting a crossing on the ground, the answer is alot. which I’m sure most conductors have had the same experience.
While a positive, safe concept, anyone who has switched cars at the type of crossing protection detailed in the article has encountered instances where even when flagging the crossing or even using flares at the crossings “drivers” at “O Dark 30” will still try to violate or attempt to violate the right of way. In a vehicle, walking, or riding a bike. And the conductor protecting the crossing needs a “head on a swivel” so as not to be hit by the Darwins.
The NTSB recommendation could be complied with by stopping the movement, dismounting, and resuming movement by hand signal or radio, with the crewman walking a ways if there are several such crossings a block or so apart. The use of cabooses as shoving platforms avoids this risk. I believe existing agreements either prohibit or require a penalty payment for riding the side of a shoving move more than a specified short distance, so altogether I don’t think it would be expensive to comply with the recommended requirement.
NTSB is really sharp on this one. The truck driver didn’t stop at the grade crossing and this was the “probable” cause of the accident, you think?