US officials call for more safety for oil by rail

[unhappycamper]

http://gazette.com/us-officials-call-for-more-safety-for-oil-by-rail/article/feed/79637



FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2013 file photo is a warning placard on a tank car carrying crude oil near a loading terminal in Trenton, N.D. U.S. officials, meeting in Washington Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014 say companies need to come up with safer ways to transport oil on the nation's rail lines following some explosive accidents as crude trains proliferate across North America.

US officials call for more safety for oil by rail
Updated: January 16, 2014 at 5:21 pm • Published: January 16, 2014 •

U.S. transportation officials on Thursday pressed for companies to come up with safer ways to transport oil on the nation's rail lines following some explosive accidents as crude trains proliferate across North America.

After a closed-door meeting with oil and railroad executives in Washington, D.C., Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the industry agreed to make voluntary changes aimed at accident prevention within the next 30 days.

Topping the list are plans to analyze the risks of oil trains that in recent years began passing regularly through major metropolitan areas across the U.S., Foxx said. The results could be used to alter some routes, government officials said. Railroads also will consider where oil trains could be slowed down, to lessen the potential danger in areas that pose the greatest threat to public safety.

"The industry, if they are motivated, can undertake preventative steps that will enhance the safety of the movement of these materials across the country," Foxx said.