Neighbors evacuated for hours after freight train derails in Matteson, Illinois

MATTESON, Ill. (CBS) — Some residents were evacuated for several hours Thursday after a freight train derailed in Matteson, Illinois, but were allowed to return home after it was determined there was no danger.

But on Thursday night, some residents still had questions—about how such a thing could have happened, and whether it could happen again.

At 10:34 a.m., Matteson firefighters and police officers responded to the freight train tracks at 21740 Main St. after about 25 cars on a Canadian National freight train derailed on the east side of the Main Street crossing, according to Matteson Fire Chief Michael Bacon.

Some of the cars had residual amounts of liquid petroleum gas, or propane, said Homewood Deputy Fire Chief and regional hazmat specialist Steve DeJong.

But it was not known initially that only residual amounts of propane were in the derailed train cars, so an evacuation order was issued, DeJong said.

But after an examination of the scene, it turned out there was no hazard in the air, he said. 

“When that chemical reaches a certain temperature, it just evaporates off into the air,” DeJong said. “We again had no readings on any of our monitoring equipment of any hazards in the in the air. There was no gas reading, no chemical readings, no anything.”  

All potentially hazardous materials were contained, DeJong said. No injuries were reported.

The train cars were jackknifed in the derailment, and heavy equipment was needed to remove them. Crews removed debris and moved gravel over the tracks.

Matteson Mayor Sheila Chalmers-Currin said the earlier evacuation was necessary as a precaution. The area evacuated affected around 300 people maximum, she said.

The area that was placed under evacuation included Main Street from the tracks south to Sauk Trail, 218th Street and 218th Place, Charles Street, and areas one mile south of Main Street and 217th Street, one mile west of Main Street, and a quarter-mile east of Main Street, the village said.

By 2:30 p.m., Mayor Chalmers-Currin and the other officials said it had been determined there was no threat from the chemicals and everyone could go home.

“Everything has been mitigated, and there is no danger to the public,” Chalmers-Currin said. “I want our residents to be aware that there is no danger at this point.”

Initially, however, the situation sounded far more dire. Residents were originally advised to plan for a “long-term evacuation” and to “take any medication and supplies” they may need.    

“We had to do that a as precaution,” Mayor Chalmers-Currin said of the evacuation.

Many were left with worries that their homes were in danger.

“Usually, you can hear the trains. They go by all the time, so you can hear the cars bumping,” said Cassandra Montegory. “But this time, it was a lot longer and a lot louder.”

Montegory was one of the 300 neighbors who were evacuated. The train derailment happened just steps for away from her home.

“I’ve always wondered, worried about that—you know, if it ever happened, you know, would it affect us, being this close?” she said. “But the biggest thing would be like an explosion, or fire, or anything like that.”

In the neighborhood just south of the derailment, CBS 2 met Mary Appelt-Graves outside her house on 218th Street. She said police and firefighters had been by to tell her to evacuate.

She had just packed up her car with her dog—but had trouble coaxing her cat to leave, so the cat stayed put. She didn’t know if she had to plan to be away for hours or days.

“We thought we were going to do some housing renovation today, and we got stopped at every junction coming back in here, and told that there was a spill on the railroad tracks,” said Appelt-Graves.

Appelt-Graves went to a relative’s house. She was later very relieved to hear there was no longer any concern, and very eager to make it back home to her cat in Matteson.

Another resident, Trevor Neal, said he lives near the derailment, and was among the people told they had to evacuate. 

“There was a box car and a coal car that was also off the rails,” he said. “It was right at a curve, and it looks like the train just went straight.”

Neal shared pictures of the train cars on their sides.

“This is serious,” he said. “We’ve really got to figure out what’s going on, and why it happened.”

Michael Espinoza said he got an alert on his Ring camera about the derailment, and rushed home to bring his five children to their grandparents’ house.

“When I went on lunch break, I told them to open the windows, it’s nice outside, turn the air off,” Espinoza said. “But when I heard them about this, I told them, close and get ready—so I could take them to their grandma’s house.”

While there may ultimately have been no danger, there were certainly some concerns from Matteson residents.

“We’re so close to the train,” said Elise Ziemann of neighboring Park Forest. “We might be here in Park Forest, but Matteson is just right down the street.”

Ziemann said she was not notified about the derailment, and only found out after seeing her neighbors frantically leaving.

“I saw people driving really fast—you know, citizens—and it seemed like they were scared,” she said.

Metra Electric Line service was also disrupted by the detailemnt, but was back to normal by 2:30 p.m.

The National Transportation Safety Board said its investigators are aware of the derailment and gathering information, but is not investigating. The agency noted that it does not investigate each and every railroad collision or derailment in the country, and is not staffed to do so.

“NTSB selects accidents based on public risk and resources available which amounts to about 12 accidents a year,” the NTSB said. “Because the NTSB is only resourced to investigate a very small fraction of the accidents and incidents in these other modes of transportation, the agency focuses on investigations that have the greatest potential to uncover systemic issues that could have broader safety implications.”

The Federal Railroad Investigation said it is investigating, and had a representative on the way Thursday night.

A high-profile freight train wreck in recent memory did end up requiring evacuations for several days. On Feb. 3, 2023, 38 freight train cars—10 of them containing hazardous materials—derailed in East Palestine, Ohio and burst into 100-foot toxic flames.

Hundreds of residents were evacuated, and crews later conducted a controlled release of toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride, because of the risk that the derailment could cause an explosion.