Norfolk Southern released a statement Tuesday after one of its employees was killed aboard one of the company’s trains that collided with a dump truck at a flat-rolled steel-producing facility in Cleveland, Ohio.
A Norfolk Southern conductor identified as Louis Shuster was fatally injured early Tuesday morning at the Cleveland-Cliffs Cleveland Works property when a dump truck struck the train as it was moving through a crossing at the facility, according to a press release by the company.
Norfolk Southern’s press release further stated:
Norfolk Southern has been in touch with the conductor’s family and will do all it can to support them and his colleagues. We are grieving the loss of a colleague today. Our hearts go out to his loved ones during this extremely difficult time.
The company is working with the Cleveland Police Department and Cleveland-Cliffs representatives to confirm the details and learn everything possible about the incident. Further, the company has been in contact with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, SMART-TD union leadership, and Cleveland-Cliffs leadership.
The company added that “more information will be released in coordination with law enforcement as it becomes available.”
The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday the incident is currently under investigation.
NTSB investigating a Norfolk Southern employee fatality that occurred this morning in Cleveland, Ohio. NTSB investigators are traveling to the scene.
— NTSB Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) March 7, 2023
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg also added that the incident is under investigation by the Federal Railroad Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
FRA, NTSB, and OSHA are investigating after a collision this morning killed a Norfolk Southern conductor in Cleveland. Our thoughts are with the family facing this preventable tragedy. Now more than ever, it is time for stronger freight railroad accountability and safety.
— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) March 7, 2023
After last month’s toxic train derailment in East Palestine and Saturday’s train derailment in Springfield, Norfolk Southern has been in the spotlight – especially in Ohio – for weeks.
Two days after the company’s second train derailment and one day before one of its own conductors was killed in a crash in the Buckeye State, Norfolk Southern unveiled a “six-point strategy” to increase safety, as previously reported by The Ohio Star.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Norfolk Southern Train” by James St. John. CC BY 2.0.
