BNSF News

On Guard: Crew Members Team Up to Stop Onboard Trespasser

2010-07-19

An investigation into undesired train stoppages led to the apprehension of a 15-year-old juvenile trespasser and On Guard recognition for four crew members' awareness and swift action.

A unit grain train and a manifest train were meeting at the Finney Siding, just north of Plainview, Texas, on the Plainview Subdivision. At the time of the meet, Conductor Rick Carson and Locomotive Engineer William Gomez, the crew of the unit grain train, asked for help in diagnosing unexpected stoppages. The crew on the manifest train, Conductor James McGinty and Locomotive Engineer Jamie Batchelor, were asked to help check the train for any defects that could cause the stoppages.

The crew members soon found the source of the problem: a juvenile trespasser tampering with the engine controls in the second locomotive unit in the consist of the unit grain train. The crew members saw the trespasser exit the locomotive on the unit grain train and immediately board the second locomotive on the manifest train.

The crews safely stopped both trains to ensure safety. They promptly notified the BNSF train dispatcher, who relayed the report to the BNSF Resource Operations Call Center in Fort Worth, where BNSF police personnel notified the Hale County Sheriff's Office, in Plainview. A Hale County constable was dispatched to the Finney Siding to meet the BNSF train crews and apprehend the 15-year-old juvenile trespasser. The youth was later identified as an emotionally disturbed runaway from a half-way house for juvenile criminal offenders in Amarillo, Texas.

BNSF Police commended Batchelor, Carson, Gomez and McGinty for their security awareness and safety mindedness that lead to the swift apprehension of the juvenile trespasser with an On Guard award. The four employees took appropriate action by timely and accurately reporting the incident, ensuring the safety of the trespasser, as well as protecting themselves from injury.

BNSF Headquarters

BNSF Railway Company
2650 Lou Menk Dr. 2nd Floor
P.O. Box 961057
Fort Worth, TX 76161-0057
Phone: (817) 352-1000

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