Railroad engineers and conductors work around large moving equipment all day long, every day. Yard crews and local switching crews are constantly moving or “shoving” cars around railroad yards and the yards of industrial customers. This process presents unique and heightened risks of injury. Recognizing this reality, on November 5, 2025, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued Safety Alert Number SA-103, entitled “Shoving Movements: Avoid the Risks.” The NTSB is an independent federal agency with a mission to “effectively promote a higher level of safety in the transportation system.”¹ Over the last 50 years, the NTSB has conducted thousands of investigations concerning transportation and railroad accidents and issued safety recommendations to promote safety.
The problem as identified by the NTSB in the Safety Alert is, “railroad conductors face increased risk of death and injury when riding equipment during shoving movements. Of the 20 conductor fatalities reported to the Federal Railroad Administration between January 2020 and July 2025, 14 involved conductors riding trains during shoving movements.”² The fact that so many railroad workers have been killed from shoving movements in the last 5 years is alarming. The NTSB Safety Alert identified the specific risks to railroad workers:
- Shoving movements that involve close clearances from nearby buildings, rail equipment, and signs can result in crush injuries and death.
- Conductors who may be positioned on lead cars can fall into the train’s path and be run over by the train.
- Slack action can lead to injury to conductors when there are sudden changes in speed on rail cars they are riding on or working near.
- Shoving movements over highway-railroad crossings create risks for conductors, especially in the industry yards of railroad customers, given they often lack warning lights or gates to warn roadway traffic, usually large trucks.
The NTSB Safety Alert provided several recommendations to workers and railroads to reduce the risk of injury associated with shoving movements. Worker recommendations included determining whether a railroad yard’s layout allows for the safe riding of rail cars, inspecting safety appliances (handholds, ladders, etc.), maintaining three points of contact while riding on cars being moved, having conductors face the direction of travel, and ensuring good communication between railroad crew members during shove movements.
The NTSB Safety Alert made 6 different recommendations to railroads to minimize the risk of injury to workers related to shoving movements, including:
- “Provide vehicles, like trucks and carts, and safe walking conditions as an alternative to riding rail equipment.
- Use cameras or other technologies to protect shoving movements without placing employees on or near moving equipment.
- Identify and clearly mark permanent close clearances and close track centers.
- Prohibit riding equipment through ungated highway-railroad grade crossings and in other high-risk locations, such as industry yards not subject to Federal Railroad Administration regulations or railroad operating rules.
- Provide hands-on training on all equipment personnel will encounter and instruct them on what railcars are unsafe to ride and why.
- Provide experienced conductors and trainers to mentor personnel on unfamiliar territories and jobs.”
The bad news for railroad workers is that the risks of serious injury and death are real and significant during shoving movements. The good news is that these injuries are preventable with a railroad commitment to educating railroad workers about the risks present during shoving movements and implementing the safety recommendations recommended by the NTSB. The time demands placed on railroad workers as a result of Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) must be recognized by railroads and safety regulators. Working too fast can lead to injuries and safety should never take the back seat to profits!
If you are a railroad worker or the family member of a railroad worker who has been seriously injured or killed in a shoving movement, call the railroad injury lawyers at Doran and Murphy today for a free, confidential consultation. We have decades of experience in handling cases all over the United States. The Federal Employer’s Liability Act, or FELA, protects injured railroad workers and their families in these situations and provides compensation for past and future lost wages, medical expenses, pain and suffering and emotional distress. Learn about your rights and call our railroad injury attorneys today at 1-800-374-2144 or contact us here.
¹NTSB Website – History of NTSB
²https://www.ntsb.gov/advocacy/safety-alerts/Pages/SA-103.aspx
³https://www.ntsb.gov/advocacy/safety-alerts/Pages/SA-103.aspx
