WASHINGTON — The Union Pacific brakeman killed in a grade-crossing incident in Ontario, Calif., last month was riding the lead car on a shove move when his train struck a truck that had entered the crossing while warning lights were flashing, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report released today (Jan. 12, 2026).
The incident occurred Dec. 3, 2025, at the East Francis Street crossing in Ontario, which is not protected by crossing gates. The train of two locomotives and seven railcars, operated by its conductor using a remote-control unit, was approaching the crossing at 9.9 mph when the tractor-trailer rig entered the crossing. The conductor initiated emergency braking, but the train and truck collided. The train was moving 7.5 mph and the truck was going 19 mph at the time of the collision. The SMART-TD union subsequently identified the person killed as Steven Crowe II, a second-generation railroader who had hired on with UP in 2014 [see “NTSB probing death …,” Trains.com, Dec. 4, 2025]. The conductor also was injured; he was hospitalized, treated, and subsequently released.
The preliminary report indicates the ongoing investigation will focus on hazard identification and mitigation strategies and operating procedures involving shoving moves, with particular attention to shove moves through crossings equipped only with flashing lights or passive warning devices.
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