Oil train explodes in downtown Lynchburg, Va.

A CSX train hauling crude oil from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota derailed April 30 in downtown Lynchburg, Va., sending a fireball 200 feet into the air.

At least 13 of the 105 tanker cars hauling oil left the tracks, resulting in explosions that reverberated through the city. The accident prompted the evacuation of at least 300 people. There were no reports of injuries.

Officials said three or four tanker cars breached, and three tanker cars ended up in the James River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay. Downstream towns and cities that use river water were forced to switch to alternative water sources.

Kimball Payne, city manager of Lynchburg, population 77,000, said he wasn’t aware that crude oil was moving through his town. He figured more than one train an hour passed through his city, but they usually were hauling coal.

Payne also noted that if the tanker cars had tipped toward downtown instead of the river, the accident would have been much worse.

The train was headed for an oil-train terminal that opened in Yorktown, Va. in December. Oil at that new terminal is typically transferred onto barges for shipment to East Coast refineries.

Railroad officials said the CSX train was traveling about 24 mph when it derailed. In response to widespread concerns about the number of trains hauling dangerous crude oil across the U.S., railroad companies in February agreed to slow trains down to less than 40 mph in high-risk urban areas by July 1.

Railroad companies also agreed to reroute some trains hauling crude oil by July 1 so they could bypass densely populated areas. Federal Railroad Administration officials said they inspected the stretch of track through Lynchburg in January.

Within hours of the Lynchburg crash, the U.S. Department of Transportation sent a “comprehensive rule-making package” to the White House for review. Proposed changes include “options for enhancing tank car standards.”

U.S. regulators, in a February emergency order, prohibited the use of about 1,100 tank cars that carry crude oil

Last week, Canadian officials announced new steps to make crude oil transport safer in Canada. About 5,000 tank cars in North America will be immediately removed from dangerous-goods service, and car owners will have three years to replace or retrofit another 65,000 cars.