NTSB reveals cause of Raymond derailment

The National Transportation Safety Board says a broken rail caused a train derailment earlier this year in Kandiyohi County. Nearly two-dozen rail cars left the track in Raymond on March 30th, causing a fire that led to the evacuation of around 800 people.

Local officials said the damage caused by the derailment could have been much worse if it had happened farther east, where more homes and businesses were located.

The NTSB said the train was traveling below the speed limit for that section of track at the time of the derailment. It blamed the incident on a “rail head surface condition” that caused the rail to separate as the train passed over it.

(Learfield News Service)