A person died at the scene after a Norfolk Southern train struck them in Greensboro on Nov. 12. Police found the pedestrian on the tracks near South Davie Street.
Greensboro police had not identified the victim and planned to notify next of kin, the Greensboro News & Record reported Thursday. Norfolk Southern and Greensboro police are investigating the death.
The News & Record described the Thursday, Nov. 12 Norfolk Southern fatality as the second train fatality in Greensboro in a week.
North Carolina law generally makes it a Class 3 misdemeanor to enter and remain on railroad right-of-way without the railroad’s consent or other legal authority, while expressly exempting people crossing at a public or private crossing. The state statute provides legal context for access to tracks, but police have not publicly said whether the person struck near South Davie Street was on the tracks lawfully or how they came to be there.
The Greensboro death comes amid a broader national toll: railroad trespassing was linked to 818 fatalities in the United States in 2024, representing 88% of train-related deaths, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Freight Strategic Plan. The federal figures include people on railroad property, such as those walking along tracks or taking shortcuts across rail corridors; they do not establish the circumstances of the Greensboro death.
