A train derailment that trapped and seriously injured a Denver rail worker happened when a railroad switch was in the wrong position, causing railcars to crash into a train that was already on the line.

The crash happened early Aug. 5 at BNSF Railway’s Globeville yard in Denver and trapped the train conductor under one of the derailed cars. The man’s leg was amputated.

The train had just arrived from Lincoln, Neb., and crew members were trying to use the train to push another train down the tracks, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary investigation report released Tuesday.

But the switch, which allows trains to be moved between different tracks, was instead lined up to move the train onto a line that was occupied, federal officials said .

The crash dera

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