The recent announcement on rail safety measures by the federal government is being welcomed locally. Medicine Hat’s director of emergency management Ron Robinson says the fact that legislation was passed is a positive move. He added that another important aspect of the legislation is that a new national task force has been struck to look at specific issues or concerns that municipalities have. The legislation announced earlier this week resulted from the Lac Megantic Quebec disaster last summer. Robinson says a mock disaster is in the works for the Medicine Hat train yards later this year that will test the area’s emergency responses.