"Bombs on the railway:" Issue of crude oil trains traveling through Milwaukee makes its way to City Hall

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- It's an issue FOX6 News first exposed last fall, and it has now made its way to Milwaukee's City Hall.

In November 2014, FOX6's Brad Hicks warned about the growing number of trains moving through southeastern Wisconsin loaded with highly-volatile crude oil from North Dakota.

In a half-dozen derailments in North America, the so-called "Bakken" trains have blown up.

On Wednesday, April 8th, the Milwaukee Common Council Public Works Committee meeting was packed with people concerned about the oil trains. They came ready to voice those concerns, but the committee chair told them wrong place, wrong time.

"The tragedy in Quebec where 47 people were killed, that train came through the city of Milwaukee," George Martin said.

"This is exclusively, 100% a federal issue. The Federal Railroad Administration largely regulates safety issues. That is a subject matter entirely out of the scope of any authority the city of Milwaukee has," Alderman Bob Bauman said.

Hazmat experts from the Milwaukee Fire Department testified about their readiness training for railroad accidents.

The Public Works Committee will meet again at the end of the month, and this time, representatives from the railroads and the federal government are expected to be on hand. That meeting is set for April 29th.