The roundtable was attended by officials from Covington to York County who expressed concern about the security of the tankers used and the volatility of the material inside.

Lynchburg Fire Chief Brad Ferguson briefed the gathering on the April 30 derailment that upset 17 cars on a 105-unit CSX oil train passing by downtown’s riverfront.

Three cars tumbled into the James River. One ruptured and sparked a large fire. No one was injured.

The train was carrying Bakken shale oil, a more volatile form of crude oil that comes from North Dakota. It was Bakken oil that spilled in the high-speed 2013 train derailment in Quebec, Canada, that killed 47 people.

On Monday, Warner said it was “pretty chilling” to see images of the Lynchburg derailment fire and realize it was the result of one breached tanker.

“I think we desperately need to move forward with new safety standards,” he told the gathering. “The national [Department of Transportation] has been working on this for some time. But it’s time to move these discussions from the discussion phase into the implementation phase.”

Federal regulators have been scrutinizing the oil-by-rail issue since the Quebec catastrophe in July 2013.

Cynthia Quarterman, administrator of the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, said her department has been “focused like a laser on the issue” since Quebec.

“[Transportation Sec. Anthony Foxx’s] message was pretty clear: We need to take some immediate steps to make sure the kind of thing that happened in Quebec does not occur here,” she said during Monday’s roundtable.

The full set of safety standard changes the department will propose is under review. But Quarterman said a number of interim steps have been taken.

Rail companies have entered into a voluntary agreement to increase inspections, reduce train speed, add braking capacity and put crude oil train routes through a more rigorous analysis typically reserved for toxic-by-inhalation substances, she said.

In the aftermath of the Lynchburg derailment, Foxx issued an emergency order requiring railroads transporting large amounts of Bakken crude oil notify State Emergency Response Commissions on operations through their states.

Quarterman’s department also issued an advisory urging companies shipping Bakken crude to use tankers with the highest available integrity. That order was not mandatory.

Concerns about safety of the tankers used to ship the oil has been a flashpoint of debate and generated several questions Monday.

But officials noted the tanker that ruptured in Lynchburg was one of the new CPC-1232 models that were designed to be more secure.

Warner said that raised more questions about whether enough was being done. He added he hoped the rail companies and oil producers — not just the tanker owners — would be part of a proactive push to address the issue.

“It is in their economic self interest do all they can to make sure this oil is transported as safely as possible,” Warner said. “Because if we have another one of these incidents, you’re going to have an even greater public outcry.”

Lynchburg City Councilman Turner Perrow said Monday he supports taking steps to improve rail safety, but urged officials to take a levelheaded approach that considers the pros and cons of heightened regulations.

“Government tends to overreact to crises and swing the pendulum too far in one direction,” he said in a follow-up interview after the roundtable.

The rail industry employs many people statewide and the cause of the Lynchburg derailment remains undetermined, he noted.

“I hope we can take a measured approach to this and understand the impacts — both positive and negative — and make a good assessment based on that information,” Perrow said.

Warner said Perrow’s point was well taken and agreed it was important to get it right.

Bryan Rhode, CSX regional vice president for state government affairs, said the company is committed to working with officials to address safety concerns.

In his opening comments at Monday’s roundtable, Rhode, a former Virginia secretary of public safety, stressed CSX’s safety record and said it strives to work with first responders by providing free safety training and access to its SecureNOW System, which allows state officials to track train traffic and cargo in real time.

Information for first responders has been one of the frequent points of concern raised in Virginia’s debate. Many stakeholders feel more information needs to be available so responders know what’s moving through their community and how to handle it.

Rhode said if an incident occurs local officials should able to call the state’s emergency operations center and find out through SecureNOW what is on the train.

But a Virginia Department of Emergency Management official said that system is not working as intended for Virginia and the state has not been able to access its data in real time.

“We’re having a hard time getting through and making it work for us,” Brett Burdick, a deputy state coordinator for VDEM, said when reached by phone after the roundtable.

Burdick added VDEM is working with CSX to address the issue and the railroad is still keeping the state updated on what type of cargo is coming through its borders.

He said it was highly unlikely SecureNOW would have made a difference in the Lynchburg derailment. First responders here quickly determined the tankers carried crude oil by the placards on the cars.

“It was pretty clear what was involved,” Burdick said.

CSX also said it will provide localities information directly upon request. Rhode offered to talk with those interested individually afterward.

“We understand there are concerns, and we’re working as hard as we can with folks like the senator as well as at the state level,” Rhode said, adding CSX will participate in the newly formed governor’s rail safety task force. “Safety is our first priority.”

Rhode at one point noted the rail industry has come out in support of a phased-in improvement of rail car standards. Mike Mohler, president of Virginia Professional Fire Fighters, a professional association, countered the industry has been talking about phasing in improvements throughout his entire 38-year career.

“It doesn’t get more phased-in,” he said. “… These cars we’re talking about are not a brand-new issue.”

Mohler said he doesn’t want to see this campaign lose momentum, and he urged CSX and other companies to get more involved in ensuring local fire departments have the resources to deal with hazardous situations.

The training CSX offers is fine, he said, but it should take a more active role in ensuring first responders have the capacity to deal with train accidents.

“There are too many understaffed, underequipped and underprepared fire departments, volunteer and career, all over the state,” Mohler said in an interview.

“I think they have a financial interest in making sure the fire and emergency medical departments across the sate have the resources they need to mitigate these incidents.”

Concern about the response capacity of local agencies was a common refrain at Monday’s event.

Warner said these decisions will only grow more critical as oil-by-rail shipments increase in the United States. Between 2008 and 2013, he said, the country saw a 46-fold increase in the gallons of crude oil shipped by train every year.

In 2013, more than 400,000 carloads of crude oil were shipped on U.S. train tracks. Warner said that is driven by a rise in the domestic production of oil, which he said was good for the economy and national security, but creates these safety concerns to grapple with.

He said he and others in Congress will be working on new rail safety initiatives, and he’ll be looking to state and local officials to give him specific recommendations.

The governor’s new rail safety taskforce — charged in part with considering regulatory issues — will hold its first meeting Wednesday.

Co-chair and current Virginia Sec. for Public Safety Brian Moran was among the speakers Monday and said the state shared Warner’s concerns about the increase in oil tanker activity.