CSX Railroad Worker Killed in Illinois Train Yard Accident

April 28th, 2010 |

RIVERDALE, IL – The woman, who was killed Friday night on April 23, 2010 when a freight train rolled over her in a Riverdale rail yard, has been identified as Melinda Carter, 37, a CSX railroad employee. According to Melinda’s family, she was at work in the yard when a train malfunctioned and rolled over her.

Melinda Carter, a 37 year old CSX train conductor, was run over by a freight train that malfunctioned while she was working in a Riverdale rail yard.

The accident occurred on the company’s grounds near 134th Street and Ashland Avenue in Riverdale and an investigation is ongoing, a CSX spokesman said.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with her family,” CSX spokesman Gary Sease said. An investigation is ongoing and company officials have been at the site all night investigating, he said.

Carter, a veteran conductor, was a member of the company’s safety committee, according to her brother, David. “It’s not like she was a novice, not by a long shot,” he said.

” We’re just totally torn apart right now, the family you know. Melinda really loved her job. She was very safe; she was on the safety committee. She took pride in it, doing her work,” brother David Carter said,

“You know, she was my rock. She was my rock. She’s my rock,” said the victim’s mother Delores Carter.

But on Saturday, family and friends gathered to mourn Melinda Carter’s death.

The 37-year-old train yard conductor for CSX Corp. was killed Friday night when she was tossed from a locomotive and struck by it.

Carter was conducting routine switching operations while cars were being moved to prepare them for delivery, officials said.

Family gathered at their Roseland neighborhood home Saturday. In an upstairs room sat three pieces of new furniture Melinda Carter recently bought for the home she planned to buy. On the dining room table, family pictures were scattered.

“I haven’t found one yet (where) she isn’t smiling,” Delois Carter said of her daughter.

“She had a smile that was worth a million dollars and that smile was genuine,” her aunt Gladys Taylor chimed in.

The youngest of three children, the Harlan Community Academy graduate was the heart of her family. She made sure her family was provided for, whether it was her parents were taking their medication or that her nephew had a nice pair of shoes.

“She had that spirit of knowing what you needed and when you needed it and how to love you,” Delois Carter said.

Delois Carter said she shared an unspoken bond with her daughter. “We had that breath-to-breath. We would meet together in spirit, she would be thinking of me and I’d be thinking of her.”

Funeral arrangements were pending.

WLS-TV/DT contributed to this story
Chicago Tribune reporters John Byrne and Deanese Williams-Harris contributed.

Gordon, Elias & Seely, LLP, is a top nationwide FELA lawyer law firm representing railroad workers injured on the job who need experienced lawyers knowledgeable in the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA). FELA is not workers compensation and it governs the employee’s right to recovery or, unfortunately in this death, FELA governs the rights and remedies of the family members. For more information about FELA and FELA rights, contact an experienced Illinois FELA lawyer through Gordon, Elias & Seely, LLP for expert advice. Call toll free 800.773.6770.