Last year, more trains carrying oil passed through B.C. than ever before, continuing a sharp increase that began five years ago.

In 2009, six railcars carrying 251 tonnes of crude petroleum rolled through the province. According to new numbers supplied by Transport Canada, in 2014, more than 4,100 cars carrying roughly 333,500 tonnes of crude oil moved through B.C. (Figures for 2014 are Straight projections based on detailed statistics covering the first nine months of the year.)

The rate at which this rise is occurring was down from previous years. From 2009 to 2010, the number of cars carrying crude destined for B.C. increased from six to eight. The following year, it climbed by 33 cars, then by 1,142 in 2012, and then by 2,198 cars the next year. From 2013 to 2014, it is projected that the increase was 796 cars.

According to a Transportation Safety Board of Canada report, the number of rail accidents across the country that resulted in the release of dangerous goods rose from two in 2012 to seven in 2013. Five of those involved oil. “This increase is concurrent with an increase in shipments of crude oil by rail from 500 car loads in 2009 to 160,000 car loads in 2013,” it states.

Transport Canada’s latest numbers support a June 2014 Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers report that states that shipments of oil by rail to Western Canada are projected to increase from 200,000 barrels of crude in 2013 to 700,000 barrels in 2016. That document attributes the increase to a growing supply of crude oil combined with protracted regulatory approvals for new pipelines.

The Enbridge Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline projects are proposed to carry diluted bitumen oil from the Alberta tarsands to B.C. ports. Both will probably be waiting years for regulatory approval. On January 6, U.S. president Barack Obama announced he would veto any bill that attempts to fast-track approval of the Keystone XL project, proposed to connect the tarsands to the Gulf of Mexico.

Last August, Kinder Morgan revealed it was expanding its Edmonton rail terminal to allow for an increased capacity of up to 250,000 barrels per day by 2015 (compared to its present volume of 100,000 barrels per day). That announcement came shortly after Kinder Morgan completed construction of the Alberta Crude Terminal in Edmonton, which has a capacity to transport 40,000 barrels of oil per day. Both terminals are connected to railway networks.

In July 2014 the Georgia Straight published a cover story about increases in the transport of oil by rail and Metro Vancouver politicians' struggle with safety concerns: More trains moving oil through B.C. raise fears of a Lac-Mégantic disaster.