BNSF News

Grocery Store Run Turns into Memorable Evening for Employee

2010-06-07

It was 1 a.m. May 26 when Kevin Ketcham, a dispatcher based in Fort Worth, Texas, and his fiancée, Christi, were on the way to the grocery store.

What happened next made it a night to remember, though, when Ketcham noticed a car stopped on the railroad tracks at the Lake Wanda Siding.

Ketcham was about 100 yards away on an adjacent crossing, and it was dark. He wouldn't even have seen the car except for the interior light, which the vehicle's occupant had left on.

"When we saw her, I turned the truck around immediately and started calling anybody I could think of at work," Ketcham said.

His first priority was the woman's safety. He knew the train schedule for that area, and he was certain a train would come through in about 20 minutes. Time was short. The police were on their way, and he reached Chief Dispatcher Wally Woxland to report what was happening.

"We drove down the crew change access road next to the tracks, and I went up to the window," he said. The woman seemed disoriented, and Ketcham knew he needed to get the woman out of the car and ensure both the woman and his fiancée were a safe distance from the track. While the two women drove Ketcham's vehicle away to avoid debris if a train hit the car before it could be moved, Ketcham turned on the emergency flashers on the woman's vehicle parked on the track.

Fellow dispatcher Donald Kleam was driving through the area and recognized Ketcham's truck. "He was very aware of his surroundings and realized that something was going on," Ketcham said. "He stopped to make sure everything was being handled as it needed to be."

As it turned out, trains in the area were stopped in time to avoid a collision. Police and medical personnel soon arrived and took charge of the scene. The significance of the early morning events would be clear in the light of day. But, at the time, Ketcham and his fiancée resumed their normal routine -- and continued their grocery store run.

"It wasn't until after we left the scene that I really had a chance to process everything that had just happened," Ketcham said. "My first thought was, what if I hadn't turned around to check what I had seen? I would have felt horrible to have been coming home from the store and seen a train stopped and a car that had been hit. What would have cost me 30 seconds of time if it had been nothing instead possibly saved a woman's life, and I am pretty proud of that."

Note: As a dispatcher, Ketcham knew exactly who to call in the Network Operations Center (NOC) for a quick response. Most employees and the general public should always call BNSF's emergency number 800-832-5452 to report stalled vehicles or other obstructions on the track.

BNSF Headquarters

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

For more information on the company and its transportation solutions, visit the BNSF Web site at www.bnsf.com