At its fall online conference on Friday, Nov. 14, the Rail Users’ Network (RUN) will observe 25 years of advocating for an improved Amtrak, more rail transi, and better connections…

Usually when passenger service on a rail line is discontinued, it never comes back, but there have been some exceptions. One is the MBTA’s South Coast Rail “line,” in the…

On Oct. 1 and 2, Railway Age and Railway Track & Structures held the annual Light Rail Conference. This year’s event took place in Pittsburgh, and it focused on responding…

There is a lot happening at Brightline Florida, the nation’s only private-sector intercity passenger railroad, which runs essentially hourly service between downtown Miami and Orlando International Airport (MCO). While we…

On Sept. 23, we reported on the funds transfer to operations that gave the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) and its riders in and around Philadelphia a two-year reprieve. The…

Philadelphia’s SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) is again operating its former level of service, despite recent threats of severe cutbacks. Riders are paying significantly more, but they are not forced…

When Amtrak was founded in 1971, there were no passenger trains running north of Massachusetts or the Empire Service line in New York State. The were no passenger trains at…

Philadelphia has been able to boast many “firsts” in its history, including being the place where the United States was founded almost 250 years ago. Effective Aug. 24 and continuing…

Earlier this month, we profiled Brightline, the only private-sector railroad that operates passenger trains (not counting tourist excursions) in the United States. The story—Brightline: Something Different on the Rails, which…

As reporters checked in at the Metropolitan Lounge at the Moynihan Train Hall adjacent to Penn Station New York Aug. 27 for the inaugural ride on the NextGen Acela, they…

New trainsets have come to Amtrak for its Acela higher-speed service on the Northeast Corridor (NEC). The NextGen Acela trains manufactured by Alstom made their debut in a ceremonial run…

In a way, the rail scene in New Orleans and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast has come full circle, within a few days of the 20th anniversary of one of…

This report comes to you from New Orleans where, at this writing, a new Amtrak service started Monday, Aug. 18. Following a celebratory Aug. 16 run, Mardi Gras Service got…

As I pack for a trip to New Orleans, La., to cover the inaugural run of Amtrak Mardi Gras service between New Orleans and Mobile, I am thinking about state-supported…

RAILWAY AGE AUGUST 2025 ISSUE: For 115 years after Railway Age began publishing in 1856, passenger trains were operated by private-sector railroads. That changed in 1971, when Amtrak was formed…

“They used to tell me I was building a dream, and so I followed the mob.” Thus began the song that became the anthem of the Great Depression. It was…

Riders on New Jersey Transit’s rail lines had to do without their trains for four days in the middle of May, due to a strike by engineers represented by the…

“California Dreamin’” was one of the iconic songs of the sixties. It was about an Angelino enduring a New York winter and dreaming about his warm hometown (the inverse of…

Most “transit railroads” in the United States (and GO Transit, which serves Canada’s Toronto area) provide a full span of service on most or all their lines, although there are…

Amtrak’s long-term closure of one of the tunnel tubes (Amtrak calls them “lines”) under the East River between Penn Station and Queens remains controversial. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, other…