A grant from a federal safety regulator will help North Dakota invest in the infrastructure needed to transport oil safely and efficiently, a senator said.

U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration granted the state about $200,000 to improve its ability to respond to incidents involving the transportation of hazardous materials like crude oil.

"It's important for us to invest in the right kind of infrastructure to move energy [resources] as safely and efficiently as possible, now and into the future," Hoeven said in a statement. "This grant will help us do just that."

Hoeven, who serves on an energy committee in the U.S. Senate, said he's been pushing an agenda that includes improvements in rail as well as pipeline safety.

North Dakota is the No. 2 oil producer in the nation. The rate of growth in the state's Bakken shale reserve basin is more than existing pipeline infrastructure can handle, forcing many in the industry to turn to rail as an alternate transit method.

North Dakota's government said rail traffic may drop off once new pipeline infrastructure comes online for the state at the heart of the shale oil boom. Three pipelines -- Sandpiper, Dakota Access and Upland -- should be in service by 2018 and provide 895,000 barrels per day in new capacity.

After peaking in December 2014, when the state set its crude oil production record, transport by rail has been in a general decline and is now at parity with pipeline transport.

The PHMSA in April offered $2 million to North Dakota to help fund university research in pipeline safety.