RAYMOND, Minn. – Federal investigators have analyzed a section of fractured rail from a fiery western Minnesota train wreck three weeks ago but were unsure whether it caused the derailment. The National Transportation Safety Board said the investigation would be ongoing. The preliminary report established that:
> The train was going was going 43 mph, below the 49 limit.
> Twenty-three cars of the 40-unit train left the rails.
> Two tank cars loaded with ethanol punctured even though they were upgraded models designed to resist leaks.
> Fire from leaking ethanol damaged gaskets on three other ethanol cars despite their gaskets being rated to withstand temperatures of 225 degrees.
> Unhurt were four crew members: An engineer, a conductor, a brakeman and a conductor trainee.
Half the town of Raymond, population 800, was evacuated without injury. The wreck was about 1 a.m. and burned into the following day. There didn’t appear to be groundwater contamination because the ethanol burned off and the ground was frozen. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad estimated track and equipment damage at $1.9 million.
Earlier: Feds to railroad: You wreck, you pay
Earlier: Rail safety training mandated in Senate bill
Earlier: Lingering flare-up at rail wreck called benign
Earlier: Chemicals, gasses escape in Dakota train crash
Earlier: Raymond evacuees told: Safe to go home
Earlier: Railroad: No idea when tracks can reopen
Earlier: Walz scopes scopes ethanol train wreck
Earlier: Ethanol explodes in train wreck; evacuation follows