The six Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad cars that derailed Wednesday night near Courtland are expected to be back on track today, though it could take weeks to clean up an estimated 30,000 gallons of spilled ethanol.

But a more enduring question may be what damage the accident will do to the railroad’s chances of securing a $2.3 billion federal loan.

Railroad President Kevin Schieffer said a preliminary review shows that tracks more than five decades old could have been at fault. And he said the accident demonstrates DM&E’s need to secure the loan, which will help upgrade existing track and add 260 miles of new track to reach coal mines in Wyoming’s Power River Basin.

“It desperately needs to be replaced,” he said of the track. “It is extremely frustrating because this doesn’t need to happen.”

The Rochester Coalition, a group led by the Mayo Clinic, has charged that the railroad has a “horrendous” safety record and that more trains coming through Rochester would endanger the clinic and its hundreds of patients.

DM&E has responded to that charge with Schieffer’s argument that the loan will help improve safety. Documents provided by the railroad show that its upgraded line is almost 13 times safer than the national average over the past decade.

Due to ethanol’s volatility, four homes were evacuated after the accident, but their owners were back and unhurt by Thursday afternoon.

Highway 68 was closed Wednesday night between county roads 45 and 47. The highway was back open Thursday morning, but County Road 45 (Nicollet County Road 24) remained closed between highways 68 and 14.

Blue Earth County Commissioner Will Purvis, whose Fourth District includes the accident area, said the sheriff’s department was pleased with the railroad’s response. He also shared some thoughts on the derailment and DM&E’s plans to run more trains through the area.

“More traffic gives the potential for more accidents,” he said. “But on the same token (DM&E) might update them.”

A Texas-based company, Hulcher Services, was assisting the railroad with putting the cars back on the track. But the ethanol-leaking train cars had to be drained of the corn-based fuel before they could be uprighted.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is also investigating the accident, though the office didn’t return calls Thursday. The derailment happened on or near a bridge over the Little Cottonwood River, a tributary of the Minnesota River, though it wasn’t clear if any ethanol spilled in the river.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.