NEW BRIGHTON, Pa. -- The last of several tanker car fires in Beaver County was put out on Sunday, as Norfolk Southern employees worked to clear the wreckage from railroad tracks and evacuated neighbors began returning home.

Federal investigators removed data recorders from the train, which was carrying ethanol when several of its 86 cars derailed and burst into flames over a bridge in New Brighton on Friday night. No one was injured.

A family assistance center has been set up at the First United Methodist Church at the corner of 11th Street and Sixth Avenue. Norfolk Southern representatives will be available through the week to deal with neighbors' financial losses, Morley said.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board removed a section of track that was broken in two when 23 cars from the train's midsection derailed.

Robert Sumwalt, vice chairman of the NTSB, said preliminary indications from the data recorders showed that the train was traveling 36 mph to 39 mph when it crashed. The speed limit is 45 mph along the rail bridge.

NTSB officials said they will gather maintenance records and interview witnesses, including the train's crew, and engineers will examine the bridge for structural soundness.

Still, the cause of the fiery derailment may not be found for months, officials said.

The train was traveling from Chicago to New Jersey when it derailed over the Beaver River, about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

About 50 to 70 trains use the tracks daily and many will have to be detoured.

The derailment was affecting Amtrak's Capitol Limited, which makes one round trip daily between Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Until that section of track reopens, Amtrak said each one-way trip will take about 2 1/2 hours longer because the train is being detoured onto some short line tracks between Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

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