When a conductor gets off a locomotive to release hand brakes, inspect a hot wheel, or perform other work on the ground, an active track may be only a few feet away.
Yet the federal protections that apply when many maintenance-of-way employees work around live tracks do not necessarily apply the same way to conductors.
That distinction is at the center of a new National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) warning.
On September 21, 2026, the NTSB issued Safety Alert SA-107, “Know the Risk of Working Near Live Tracks.” The agency warned that conductors and other operating employees may work beside tracks where train movements remain authorized without receiving the same federal on-track safety protections required for roadway workers. The alert followed two investigations in which conductors were fatally struck by trains on adjacent tracks.
For railroad workers, this is more than a reminder to “stay alert.” The NTSB is identifying a difference in how workers can be protected from the same basic hazard: a moving train on an adjacent track.
What Is the Safety Protection Gap?
Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Roadway Worker Protection regulations under 49 C.F.R. Part 214, Subpart C require railroads to establish on-track safety programs for covered roadway workers. Depending on the work and location, those protections can include work limits, exclusive track occupancy, train-approach warnings, and specific protections for adjacent controlled tracks.
But conductors are operating employees, not necessarily “roadway workers” for purposes of those regulations when they get off a train to perform normal train-service duties.
The NTSB specifically highlighted that difference. According to SA-107, conductors and other operating employees are not subject to the same federal on-track safety requirements as roadway workers when they leave a train to work on or near the track.
That can create a dangerous situation.
A roadway worker performing covered work near an adjacent controlled track may have formal on-track protection in place. A conductor performing duties in essentially the same physical location may be expected to work while trains continue moving on the adjacent track.
The NTSB is now urging railroads to close that gap through their own operating rules and procedures.
Two Fatal Conductor Accidents Show Why the Issue Matters
The NTSB pointed to two fatal accidents when issuing the new alert.
Union Pacific Conductor Struck Near Kenosha, Wisconsin
On September 4, 2024, a Union Pacific freight train received an alert from a wayside detector indicating a possible overheated wheel.
The conductor got off the train to inspect the suspected hot wheel. He crossed to the adjacent main track and positioned himself near it as his freight train pulled past.
A southbound METRA commuter train approached on the adjacent track at about 54 mph.
The conductor was struck and killed.
The NTSB determined that the conductor was fouling the adjacent track when he was struck. Investigators also identified an inadequate job briefing and failures by other crew members to maintain situational awareness and warn the conductor about the approaching train as contributing factors.
After the accident, Union Pacific changed its special instructions on the Kenosha Subdivision to provide track-breach protection where employees were working on the ground.
BNSF Conductor Killed While Releasing Hand Brakes in Montana
A second accident occurred on October 19, 2025, in Columbus, Montana.
A BNSF conductor was working on the ground alongside a freight train parked on a siding. He was releasing hand brakes while working between the siding and an adjacent main track.
An eastbound BNSF grain train approached on the main track at approximately 37 mph.
The conductor entered the foul of the main track and was struck and killed.
In this investigation, the NTSB’s finding went directly to the protection issue.
The agency determined that the probable cause was the lack of a requirement for the train crew to establish on-track safety on the adjacent track when the conductor was working in a high-risk area for fouling that track. The NTSB also identified an inadequate job safety briefing and the lack of communication with the dispatcher as contributing factors.
That finding matters because it shifts the safety discussion beyond whether a worker looked in the right direction at the right moment.
The question becomes whether the work should have been structured so that the conductor was protected from the approaching train in the first place.
What Does It Mean to “Foul” a Track?
Railroad workers know how quickly clearance disappears when working between tracks.
For purposes of the NTSB alert, a track is considered fouled when a person or equipment is within the gauge or within four feet of the nearest rail and could be struck by moving equipment.
A conductor does not need to be standing between the rails to be in danger.
Tasks such as releasing hand brakes, inspecting equipment, checking a defect, walking a train, handling paperwork, or moving around cars can place a worker close enough to an adjacent track that one step, a loss of balance, distraction, or a narrow clearance can put the employee in the path of a train.
That is why the distinction the NTSB identified matters.
NTSB Wants Railroads to Strengthen Their Own Procedures
SA-107 does not itself create a new federal regulation requiring all conductors to receive roadway-worker protection.
Instead, the NTSB is urging railroads to adopt stronger procedures.
Among other measures, the NTSB recommends that railroads:
- Require conductors working on the ground to brief with dispatchers about trains expected on adjacent tracks.
- Strengthen job briefings involving work near live tracks.
- Modify operating rules so conductors can request track protection when working near active tracks.
- Require conductors working in these situations to carry and monitor portable radios.
- Review procedures for work performed close to live tracks.
- Reinforce the danger of unintentionally fouling an adjacent track.
The recommendations recognize an important safety principle: avoiding a struck-by accident should not depend entirely on whether an individual worker detects an approaching train in time.
Railroads control train movements, dispatcher communications, operating procedures, staffing, job briefings, and the circumstances under which track protection can be established.
Those systems can matter just as much as individual situational awareness.
What Should Conductors Take From the NTSB Alert?
The NTSB also recommends that conductors avoid working near active tracks when possible, work from the side of the train away from the live track when conditions allow, obtain information about nearby train movements, and carry a portable radio for relevant communications.
But the broader lesson should not be reduced to telling workers to “be more careful.”
Both accidents the NTSB examined involved experienced railroad operations where multiple layers of protection could have affected the outcome: operating rules, job briefings, dispatcher communication, crew communication, track protection, and how the job was planned.
Railroad safety depends on those systems working together.
Why This Safety Gap Can Matter in a FELA Case
The NTSB alert does not automatically establish railroad negligence when a conductor is struck near an active track.
A claim under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) remains fact-specific. FELA allows qualifying railroad employees to pursue damages when railroad negligence contributes, in whole or in part, to an injury or death.
When a conductor is injured while working near a live track, an investigation may therefore examine questions such as:
- What did the job briefing address about adjacent-track movements?
- Did the railroad know the employee would be working close to a live track?
- Was track protection available or permitted?
- Did the crew communicate with the dispatcher before the employee went on the ground?
- Did the briefing identify approaching trains?
- Did applicable railroad rules adequately address the hazard?
- Was the worker provided with an operative portable radio?
- Were there close-clearance conditions or limited places of safety?
- Had the railroad previously identified the location or work method as hazardous?
- Could the task reasonably have been performed using a safer procedure?
These facts can become important when determining whether a railroad provided a reasonably safe method and place to work.
An NTSB safety alert is not, by itself, proof of FELA liability. But the underlying safety issues the agency identifies can overlap directly with questions of railroad negligence, training, supervision, work methods, communication, and hazard control.
Evidence Can Disappear Quickly After a Live-Track Accident
When a conductor or another railroad employee is seriously injured near an active track, some of the most important evidence may exist only temporarily.
Depending on the incident, relevant evidence can include:
- Locomotive forward-facing video
- Yard or facility surveillance video
- Dispatcher recordings and logs
- Crew radio communications
- Train movement and lineup records
- Event-recorder information
- Job briefing documentation
- Railroad operating rules and special instructions
- Track diagrams and clearance measurements
- Detector records
- Employee statements and witness information
- Photographs of the work location
Railroads can begin investigating a serious incident almost immediately. Workers and families should also consider what information to preserve. Our guide on what to do after a railroad injury outlines steps that can help protect medical care, documentation, and evidence.
The NTSB Warning Puts the Focus Where It Belongs: Preventing the Exposure
The danger of an adjacent live track is not new.
What makes Safety Alert SA-107 significant is the NTSB’s focus on the difference between protections afforded to roadway workers and those available to conductors working on the ground.
The two fatal accidents the agency highlighted show what can happen when a conductor’s work places him or her only feet from an unrestricted train movement.
The answer cannot depend solely on a worker seeing or hearing the train in time.
Job planning, track protection, dispatcher coordination, operating rules, communications, and safer work procedures can all help prevent exposure before a train ever approaches.
Injured While Working Near a Live Track? Talk With a FELA Lawyer
If you were seriously injured while working on or near an active railroad track, or if a member of your family was killed in a railroad workplace accident, McEldrew Purtell can review what happened, the work procedures in place, and the evidence that may be important under FELA.
Our railroad injury team represents railroad workers and families in serious injury and wrongful death cases nationwide.
Contact McEldrew Purtell for a free, confidential consultation to discuss what happened and your rights under FELA.