A traffic catastrophe in western New Mexico is finally over. A freight train carrying propane derailed near the Arizona state line Friday afternoon, caught on fire, and exploded. The fiery disaster shut down I-40 in both directions for a couple of days and forced some nearby residents to evacuate their homes.

Thankfully, no injuries were reported.

BNSF officials confirmed 35 cars derailed near the Arizona state line and six of those train cars were carrying propane. The derailment sparked a massive fire that shut down all nearby roads – including I-40 – through the weekend.

The McKinley County fire chief says crews had to let all the extra propane burn off before they could safely contain the fire and reopen the area.

I-40 is open again but the incident is still causing traffic problems miles and miles away.

New Mexico State Police had shut down the westbound lanes of I-40 not too far outside of Albuquerque Friday, encouraging drivers to take I-25 down to Las Cruces and take I-10 west. Many truck drivers decided to take a shorter route on U.S. 60 through Socorro – and that road was still packed Monday morning.

BNSF officials confirmed that freight trains are moving along the tracks again Monday, which means they’ve officially entered cleanup mode. However, there’s no telling how long it will take BNSF to remove the derailed train cars.

One local attorney is concerned about the nearby residents who had to evacuate their homes.

“There are about 40 property owners in that area, and we want to make sure that they understand that they may have rights and claims to protect and then rehabilitate their property after they may have been injured by these toxic chemicals that were in transport by BNSF,” said Brian Colón, managing partner of Singleton Schreiber’s New Mexico offices.

A BNSF spokesperson says their air monitoring results show no air quality concerns – unlike other, recent high-profile train derailments.

New Mexico Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez says Friday’s incident is another reason why Congress needs to take a closer look at federal railroad safety regulations.

“Look how close that train derailment was to Gallup, imagine if it happened a few miles before that?” Leger Fernandez said. “What would have happened to the town of Gallup? So What I want to happen is for Congress to take action, to pass the pieces of legislation that we have before us to increase rail safety.”

Leger Fernandez said there’s roughly three train derailments a day in the U.S. – there was another one in Portland, Oregon on Monday.

It could be several weeks until federal officials announce what caused this derailment.