Despite huge increases in oil trains and spills, crude continues to rides the rails largely in secret

Crude oil deliveries via U.S. railways increased 74 percent in 2013, and more oil was spilled in railway accidents last year than in the previous 37 years combined. With forecasts calling for crude shipments to keep rising this year, there are growing safety concerns in many small towns about crude-oil trains passing through. But there is little they can do about it, because "Federal interstate-commerce rules give them little say in the matter and railroads are exempted from federal 'right to know' regulations on hazardous material sites," notes Jad Mouawad of The New York Times.

"Under pressure to act, the Transportation Department said in February that railroads had agreed to apply the same routing rules to oil trains that they already apply to other hazardous materials, such as explosives, radioactive materials and poisonous substances like chlorine," Mouawad writes. "This voluntary agreement, which takes effect in July, was among commitments that also included lowering speed limits to 40 miles per hour when traveling in large metropolitan areas, and providing $5 million to develop training programs for emergency responders."

"Still, the railroads remain particularly secretive about how they determine the precise routing of their hazardous cargo. The rules that apply to that cargo, which came into effect in 2008 during the Bush administration, give railroads a lot of leeway," Mouawad writes. "Railroads are required to look at 27 factors before they determine the “safest and most secure” route for hazardous shipments. But the system provides little transparency, and outsiders cannot find out why a particular route is favored, for instance. Railroads do not provide any information on their route selection, citing safety concerns."

Railroad officials say they provide local emergency responders with a list of the 25 most hazardous commodities transported through their communities, Mouawad writes. "But the recipients must sign an agreement to restrict the information to 'bona fide emergency planning and response organizations for the expressed purpose of emergency and contingency planning,' a constraint that precludes them from making the information public." (Read more)