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NTSB Investigation Underway for Columbus Derailment

The National Transportation Safety Board continues to investigate the train derailment in Columbus yesterday. Most of the people who were evacuated yesterday have returned to their homes.

National Transportation Safety Board Member Earl Waynur says the train appeared to have a clear signal when it went into the area where cars derailed.  And Waynur says preliminary reports show speed was not a factor.

"At this point, the speed was where it was supposed to be going into the curve and there were no apparent anomalies that the crew noticed coming up on that curve," says Waynur.

Wenner says it also appears the track had been inspected recently.  He says the federal agency has 12 people in Columbus right now, trying to figure out what happened.  Wenner says they are re-railing cars that can be re-railed.  And the track is being reconstructed so that investigators can look for evidence of what caused the derailment that ruptured cars containing ethanol, causing them to explode.  Wenner says this investigation could take a year or 18 months to complete