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(Reuters) — Oil train operators must have detailed information on hand about the possible risks of their cargo in case of an accident and perform more thorough checks before moving on the tracks, U.S. transportation officials said on Friday.
U.S. officials have been wrestling with how to make oil train deliveries safer ever since a runaway shipment derailed in Lac Megantic, Canada, in 2013 and killed 47 people and destroying much of the town. In March there was an oil train accident outside Galena, Illinois, although it did not lead to an injury.
New measures announced Friday are meant to reduce the chance that a routine train mishap would lead to the kind of fiery explosion that followed several other oil train accidents, officials said.
The measures were announced jointly by the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
One of the measures, the railroad administration said, required shippers to account for who handled crude oil involved in any mishap and what the operator knew about the possible volatility of the cargo.
Rail operators must also do more to find flawed tanker wheels and quickly have them replaced, the railroad administration said.
Early analysis indicates that a defective wheel contributed to last month's oil train derailment and fire in Galena, according to the railroad administration .
A national oil train safety plan is due in coming weeks and will be more comprehensive than Friday's measures.
“The boom in crude oil production, and transportation of that crude, poses a serious threat to public safety,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement on Friday.
“The measures we are announcing today are a result of lessons learned from recent accidents and are steps we are able to take today to improve safety.”
(Reuters) — Canada will boost the minimum insurance railways will have to carry when they haul crude oil, and an additional fund will be set up with levies on oil shipments to cover major disasters, under legislation to be introduced on Friday, two sources familiar with the bill said.