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Citing a forecast from the US Federal Highway Administration (FHA), the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported in October 2020 that total railroad freight shipments in the US will rise from 18.6bn tonnes in 2018 to an estimated 24.1bn tonnes by 2040, an increase of 30 per cent.

A good portion of this growth is being driven by the historically high levels of oil and natural gas that is being produced and transported in the US, creating a need for more shipping of crude oil by rail. Since crude oil and natural gas are considered hazardous materials, there are now approximately 3.1bn tonnes of hazardous materials – which also commonly include chlorine, anhydrous ammonia, ethylene oxide and sulphur dioxide – transported by long-haul rail in the US each year. Despite this growth in long-haul rail transport, railroads remain one of the safest ways to transport both hazardous and non- hazardous materials.