NEW MEXICO — The National Transportation Safety Board issued its preliminary report on a train derailment last month near the New Mexico-Arizona state line.

The train was going from Belen to Phoenix on April 26. The train had three head-end locomotives, 97 railcars and a distributed power unit at the rear.

The NTSB determined the train was going about 53 mph in a 70 mph zone around 12:37 p.m. when 35 railcars derailed near the state line.

Among the 35 cars were six tank cars. Each tank car was hauling 30,000 gallons of liquefied petroleum gas. Four of the cars were breached and released their contents, which ignited, creating a huge fireball. A fifth tank car was exposed to the fire and released vapor through its pressure relief device.

The local fire department ordered a 2-mile evacuation, causing 52 people to evacuate. Fire crews let the tank cars burn overnight. Then, they extinguished the fire the next day and lifted the evacuation and road closure the day after.

Remarkably there were no injuries.

The Federal Railroad Administration is taking over the investigation to dig deeper into the cause of the derailment. The NTSB is going to focus on the performance of some of the tank cars and emergency response actions. However, the NTSB will assist the FRA wherever needed, including examining the recovered tank car parts.

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