Federal regulators said railroads and energy companies agreed Thursday to take significant steps to make shipping crude oil by rail safer after a string of accidents and explosions prompted rising fears in cities and towns across the country. The voluntary changes, which include improving the safety of tanker cars, were announced after a meeting convened by the U.S. Department of Transportation that included top agency officials, executives from the big freight railroads and members of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s chief lobbying group. But at least one of the parties involved in the meeting on the rapidly growing crude-by-rail business began criticizing the other and regulators shortly after the announcement in Washington. A spokeswoman for railroad company Union Pacific Corp. UNP -1.29% Union Pacific Corp. U.S.: NYSE $ 167.96 -2.19 -1.29% Jan. 16, 2014 4:01 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2.39M AFTER HOURS $ 167.82 -0.14 -0.09% […]