NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A man was hit and killed by a CSX freight train on Saturday morning on tracks near East Campbell Road in the Madison area of Nashville, the Metro Nashville Police Department said.
The man was struck a little after 10 a.m. According to police, the engineer told investigators the train was moving at roughly 35 to 40 mph when he spotted someone on the rails ahead. He blew the horn again and again, but the man never looked back toward the train. Police said the man walked into the center of the tracks and was hit while the crew was braking.
Investigators have not released his name. Police described him as a white man who looked to be in his 30s, and the Davidson County medical examiner is working with detectives to confirm who he was.
Even at the speed reported Saturday, a train cannot stop quickly. The rail safety group Operation Lifesaver says once a loaded freight train going 55 mph hits its emergency brakes, it may travel a mile or longer before it halts, about the length of 18 football fields.
Deaths like this one are the most common kind of rail fatality away from road crossings. A National Safety Council review of 2025 federal railroad data counted 651 people killed while trespassing on U.S. rail lines, making up 97% of fatalities that did not happen at crossings. Walking on railroad property without permission is also treated as criminal trespass under Tennessee law.
Police have not said what brought the man onto the tracks that morning, and beyond his general description, no other details about his identity have been released while the medical examiner works to confirm it.
Section: More Nashville TN crime news
Filed under: Nashville TN Public Safety News
