Members of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspect the site of a train derailment of hazardous material in East Palestine
A general view as members of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (not pictured) inspect the site of a train derailment of hazardous material in East Palestine, Ohio, U.S., February 16, 2023. Reuters

More needs to be done to address rail safety in the face of hundreds of annual train derailments, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Thursday.

"Rail safety is something that has evolved a lot over the years but there's clearly more than needs to be done," Buttigieg told Yahoo Finance. He noted there are roughly 1,000 train derailments annually and said that points to a "need to continue to raise the bar on rail safety."

The Feb. 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern operated train caused a fire that sent a cloud of smoke over the town of East Palestine, Ohio, and forced thousands of residents to evacuate while railroad crews drained and burned off toxic chemicals. There were no reported fatalities or injuries.

The incident has sparked calls from lawmakers to toughen rail safety regulations.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan is in East Palestine on Thursday. EPA "will be here as long as it takes to ensure the safety of this community. We will get through this together and we're not going anywhere until we do," Regan said on Twitter.

Since the accident, residents have complained about headaches and questioned the impacts of pollution, while railroad union officials said they have long warned that such an accident could happen because railroad cost-cutting harmed safety measures.

EPA said it continues to support the Ohio and local government agencies on water testing and test results from the village's municipal well sampling showed no water quality concerns.

The Association of American Railroads said the National

Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) should proceed with their investigation into the accident before any changes to safety rules are made. "Immediate pushes for legislative or regulatory action absent of NTSB results and in response to the accident is premature at best - and opportunistic at worst," the group said.

Buttigieg said on Twitter that Congress constrained the department in some areas of rail regulation, noting the Trump administration in 2018 withdrew a proposed braking regulation because of a law that Congress passed in 2015, "but we are using the powers we do have to keep people safe."

After railroad crews drained and burned off a toxic chemical from five tanker cars, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Feb. 8 said that residents could return to their homes.