October 19 - Tragedy on the Tracks

Labor History in 2:00 · Oct 19, 2026 · 1m

On this day in Labor History the year was 2013.

That was the day that two workers on California’s Bay Area Rapid Transit, or BART as it is more commonly called, were struck and killed by a train.

Christopher Sheppard was a BART track engineer.

Laurence Daniels was a contract employee.

Both men had years of experience working on the tracks.

They were inspecting the tracks when they were hit and killed.

The workers who usually operated the trains were out on strike.

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 and SEIU Local 1021 had walked off the job the day before.

The strike disrupted the daily…