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topicnews · July 18, 2025

According to NTSB, CSX Director Trainee Death illustrates broader security and training problems

According to NTSB, CSX Director Trainee Death illustrates broader security and training problems

The scene of the fatal accident with a CSX conductor -Forgenter on June 23, 2023. Google Earth with NTSB notations

Washington – The death of a CSX conductor – trainees in an incident in June 2023 in Baltimore is an indication of broader security and training gaps in the rail industry, the National Transportation Safety Board said today (July 17, 2025).

On June 26, 2023, an incident, an individual in Phase II of the conductor training, was killed when he fell by an intermodal rail car during a thrust on the Seagirt Marine. [See “NTSB investigating CSX employee death …,” Trains News Wire, June 27, 2023].

The NTSB report states that his investigation has been determined that the trainee was in an unsafe driving position while moving and has susceptible to slip and fall on the train of the train. According to the report, there were defective CSX operating rules that do not offer adequate protection against slipping. Inadequate CSX training, which does not adequately deal with how you drive with intermodal iron cars safely; And lack of federal research to combat safe driving practices.

“The only number of acceptable deaths of railway workers is zero,” said Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, in a press release. “Our investigations consistently show that improvement in security means that the railway is appropriately trained and clear security practices are of essential importance.”

The investigation caused the NTSB to have five security recommendations, two to CSX and the Federal Railroad Administration and one for all railways in class I.

For CSX, it was recommended to revise the operating rules in order to instruct the employees how they can drive all types of railway cars safely and carry out the first and annual training of these revised rules. For the FRA, the NTSB recommended research to determine where the crew members drive with a car, best create their hands and feet on safety devices such as handwalls and steps and give instructions on the basis of this research and encourage the railways to revise and train accordingly. And it asked all the railways of class I to ban employees with their feet on safety devices with their feet that restrict the placement of pedestrians.

The rail car, which is involved in the fatal accident in Baltimore, and its different places where the crew members can hold or drive. Brotherhood of locomotive engineers and train people over NTSB

In a statement on News Wire, CSX said “the work of the NTSB in connection with the incident in Baltimore and is looking forward to checking the safety recommendations of the NTSB and reacting to the security recommendations.”

The accident occurred around 8:06 p.m. and included a train of two locomotives and 15 intermodal railway cars with a three -person crew: the engineer, a head coach and a ladder. After the trainee was radioing the engineer to stop within five car lengths, the trainee slipped as a slack action, and fell on the train of the train. The medical emergency staff came to about 20 minutes and declared the trainee.

As a result of the accident, CSX spent a security guard for employees who took into account the responsibilities of employee instructors and rules for riding equipment. CSX and the Smart TD Union then announced an agreement to extend the CSX conductor program from four to five weeks [see “CSX, SMART-TD agree …,” News Wire, July 31, 2025]. CSX also added new competence requirements for the trainees for conductors and added an intermodal car for devices that were used in his training facility.

The FRA reacted to the accident with a security bulletin in which the railways encouraged to identify locomatlone -specific security problems and to train or lower employees in order to raise awareness of the dangers to drive moving devices. The bulletin asked the railways to check their training programs to ensure that they are sufficient for employee instructors and that the trainees were properly instructed and continuously monitored compliance and security. On July 1, 2023 and August 11, 2023, the working group for the fatalities of the FRA switching companies also released notifications to highlight the accident and demand the workers to remain vigilant during the switching movements and ensure that thrust movements are carried out safely.