The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an accident at a rail yard in Decatur, Alabama that killed a Norfolk Southern worker last week.
Three NTSB investigators spent several days at the site of the January 31 accident.
At about 5:15 p.m. that day, a railroad engineer was in a locomotive that was struck by freight cars in the rail yard, according to the NTSB.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union identified the engineer who died as 55-year-old Chris M. Wilson, who had been an employee of Atlanta-based Norfolk Southern for 30 years.
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“Norfolk Southern is grieving the loss of a member of our team and our hearts are with their loved ones during this extremely difficult time. We are cooperating fully with the NTSB to understand what happened,” Norfolk Southern said in a written statement.
It could take one to two years for the release of a final report detailing the probable cause of the crash and any contributing factors, according to the NTSB.