Oil train classroom-on-rails trains responders

ALBANY, N.Y. - A train equipped with four oil tankers and two classroom cars is making a whistle stop at the Port of Albany as part of a multi-state tour providing enhanced safety training in response to increased shipments of North Dakota crude oil. It has appointments in six other states, including Illinois.

Albany has become a major hub for shipping the crude oil, which arrives daily in hundreds of tank cars to be shipped down the Hudson River to New Jersey refineries. A massive expansion in the volume of crude oil rail transport has raised safety concerns in the aftermath of several major accidents, including one in Quebec that killed 47 people.

As part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation earlier this year, railroads are offering increased emergency response training. The CSX Safety Train is conducting training at Albany Thursday as part of schedule that takes it through Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.