August 30th, 2023 by WCBC Radio

The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary investigative report of the August 6th accident that claimed the life of a conductor trainee at the CSX railroad yard in Cumberland.

On Aug. 6th at approximately 11:43pm, a conductor trainee was riding on the side of a railcar that was moving on the track when he struck the handrail of a standing locomotive on an adjacent track and later died as a result of his injuries.  The newly released investigation, which included the examination of the locomotives’ event and image recorders, interviews, and an accident reconstruction, noted that on the night of the accident the conductor and the conductor trainee were riding on ladders on the same side of the final car of the train.  As the train reversed down the track at approximately 9 MPH, it approached three locomotives parked on an adjacent track.  Post-accident measurements taken by the NTSB on the scene indicated only about 7 inches of clearance between the train and the standing locomotives.  The investigation remains ongoing.