Evacuated residents allowed back after Kandiyohi County train derailment Thursday

Residents of nearly 250 southwest Kandiyohi County homes were allowed back into their homes Thursday afternoon after a train derailed north of Willmar. BNSF train officials said 22 cars derailed at about 1 a.m. in the city limits of Raymond, which has a population of about 800 people.
According to BNSF, the train was hauling mixed freight that included corn syrup and about 10 cars worth of ethanol. Four of the ethanol cars caught on fire, but no injuries were reported. Raymond residents who had no place else to go were evaculated to Central Minnesota Christian School in Prinsburg.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety said there were no requests for hazardous materials teams. Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson reported Thursday afternoon that there was no impact on the area’s groundwater.
BNSF reported the main track was blocked, and the crash is still under investigation.
At this time it doesn’t appear likely the Raymond derailment would have been covered by the additional safety regulations for high-hazardous flammable trains, because those rules only apply when a train has either a block of 20 flammable liquid cars, or more than 35 total flammable liquid cars.
The Federal Railroad Administraion, the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, and the National Transportation Safety Board all responded to the derailment.