More inspections are needed to ensure oil delivered on the U.S. rail network is safe, a leading senator from North Dakota said. U.S. Sen. John Hoeven , a Republican member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said an appropriations bill at the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee calls for ways to improve crude oil transportation by rail. “Rail safety begins with the rails, which means we need more inspectors, more inspections and more technology to monitor rail conditions and train movement,” Hoeven said in a statement Wednesday. “The measures we’re including in the [appropriations] bill will help to prevent accidents in the first place, and to mitigate their impact when they do occur.” About 950 barrels of oil spilled when two trains operated by BNSF Railway collided and derailed in North Dakota in late December. More than 40 people died in a similar accident in Lac-Megantic […]