Fracking companies have long worked under this same kind of confidentiality, refusing to share information with emergency management officials and first responders regarding the hazardous chemicals they employ in their operations. These fracking companies are, in some cases, finally being forced to disclose the nature of the hazardous chemicals of their operations. (See DU thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/1071801 as an example)

I see the situation with the railroads as similar to but not the same as that of fracking confidentiality. First of all, if folks were truly aware of the kind of dangerous cargo hauled every day by RRs through our cities and towns and neighborhoods, they wouldn't live anywhere near a railroad line. Yet people put up with it because they need that cargo, just like we share the roads every day with trucks hauling everything from petroleum to hazardous chemicals. We never question why this is allowed, even when horrendous accidents occur.

Security-wise, when it comes right down to it, our rail lines (like our infrastructure) are incredibly vulnerable to sabotage. They are relatively soft targets -- it's not like you have security cameras situated along the 230,000km of rail lines in this country. I do firmly believe that state and emergency management officials must be notified about trains hauling large quantities of crude oil but then you must trust that everyone working within the system will treat this information as confidential.

Hauling by rail is amazingly safe, all things considered, and some of the recent accidents like the tragic one in Canada can be attributed to operators violating the safety rules and regulations already set by the railroads. Ideally, I would like to see more laws enacted that would route hazardous cargo around populated areas but practically speaking that's just not possible. A lot of this country was intentionally built around RR lines before trucking ever came into being. You'd have to lay down countless thousands of miles of new track and that's just not possible.

In the meanwhile we can just hope that rail transport continues to be as efficient and safe as it has been in the past (miraculously), insist that railroads share with the proper officials the nature of their potentially hazardous cargos, and cross our fingers.