The Rail Users’ Network (RUN) is observing its 25th anniversary this year. RUN was founded in 2000 as a spinoff from the Amtrak Customer Advisory Committee (ACAC), to which several of the original RUN members belonged at the time. Since its founding, RUN has been concerned with improving Amtrak, advocating for better rail transit in the United States and Canada, and promoting connectivity between transit and trains on long-distance and corridor-length routes.
Coalition Vice-Chair and Legislative Director Vito Havrilla is reporting on the previous RUN conference that was held in May, as we look forward to RUN’s 25th Anniversary conference on Friday, November 14, from 1:00 until 5:00 p.m. RUN Chairperson and founder Richard Rudolph will kick off the event with a presentation on the history of RUN and its activities over the past quarter-century.
There will be panels on three topics of interest to advocates and rail managers and planners. One will be the impending merger of Union Pacific (UP) and Norfolk Southern (NS), and its impact on Amtrak routes where they serve as host railroads. Another will focus on the need for more equipment on Amtrak trains to provide sufficient capacity for today’s route map and for future growth, and on Amtrak’s efforts to purchase new cars. The third will concern efforts to initiate new rail transit starts that were not covered at the conference last May. I will deliver the closing remarks.
The conference will be held on line, using Zoom. Admission is free for RUN members and $25.00 for nonmembers. Because RUN’s introductory rate for new members is the same amount for the first year of membership, non-members who register for the conference will be enrolled as RUN members for the rest of the year and for 2026. Details on how to register can be found on the RUN web site, www.railusers.net.
David Peter Alan has been a RUN member since 2003 and a member of its Board of Directors since 2005. The Lackawanna Coalition is an organizational member of RUN.
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