SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP -- Officials on Friday reopened a stretch of railroad that a day earlier was the site of a fiery crash between two Canadian National freight trains that left two men dead and two others seriously injured, according to a wire service.

The track was reopened at 6 a.m. EST, and the first train went through two hours later, Canadian National spokesman Ian Thomson said. The nearly head-on crash occurred Thursday morning in this marshy, wooded area of rural Oakland County, spilling about 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel, Undersheriff Thomas Quisenberry said.

Two nearby schools closed, and some residents were briefly evacuated as a precaution until officials determined no hazardous materials had leaked.

The cause of the crash was unknown.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators arrived at the site Thursday night to begin their investigation. They said they would be there for several days.

Thomas Landris, 49, of Durand, an engineer, and Gary Chase, 58, of Owosso, a conductor, were killed, railroad spokesman Jack Burke said. Landris had worked for Canadian National for 30 years, and Chase was a 32-year employee, he said. Allen Yash, an engineer from Fenton, and Jesse Enriquez, a conductor from Detroit, were hospitalized, Burke said.

A spokeswoman at Genesys Regional Medical Center said Friday that information on Yash's condition could not be released. Enriquez was listed in critical condition Friday at Detroit Receiving Hospital, spokesman Howard Hughey said.