About 40 residents in Emerson, Manitoba were told they could return home early Wednesday morning.

Around 7:00 a.m. Tuesday the sounds of a train running off its tracks forced some people who live near it out of bed, including Richard Penner.

"It was just an enormous bang followed by rumbling and my whole house shook," said Penner.

No one was injured but shortly after the loud bang, Penner's home and about 20 others on the east side of Emerson had to be evacuated.

Derek Robert only had time to grab his phone and a cat after his brother woke him up.

"He's like, ‘We have to get out now because there's something happening,' so then I just ran out," he said.

A train coming in from the United States carrying unscented propane derailed.

Emerson Fire Chief Jeff French estimates the train was travelling about eight kilometres an hour when three railcars went off the tracks.

"One was on was listing close to on its side. The other one was kind of listing as well and a third one was off the track," said French.

Thankfully, French said as far as train derailments go, this one is as safe as one could be because investigators did not finding any leaks.

Investigators tested the air quality in the area and had all natural gas and hydro sources cut off to prevent any type of ignition.

Janet Grocholski lives metres from the train and was having her morning coffee when the derailment happened.

She said she always felt the tracks are too close to people and their homes and would feel if they were moved further away from homes.

“After that happened in (Lac-Megantic), Quebec (I was) a little bit worried," she added.

But the mayor of Emerson said because the trains move so slowly in and out of town, people shouldn't be too worried.

"We have to look at safety concerns all the time to appease our residents that this is a safe community to live in and I don't think we have any concerns at this particular time," said Wayne Arseny.

The BNSF Railway says it’s working with Canadian officials to find out what happened.

- with a report from Sheila North Wilson