On Friday November 14th, 2025 the Rail Users’ Network held its Fall Conference, An Update – keeping you informed in the world of Passenger Rail & Rail Transit.
RUN Chair Richard Rudolph gave the opening statement. He spoke on RUN’s history. It started with an 8-page newsletter in 2000. He said that we must maintain our national rail system; the Heritage Foundation wants to end the 15 long distance trains. RUN passed a resolution of No Confidence on Richard Anderson, head of Amtrak; in 2015 he resigned.
Chris Nevitt, Board Chair of Front Range Passenger Rail District, spoke on proposed passenger service from Fort Collins to Pueblo. He said that Front Range Passenger Rail (FRPR) is not California High Speed Rail. Trains will run in 2 sections: Denver–Fort Collins; Denver–Pueblo. 79 mph speed limit; 140 miles length; 4 stations northward to Fort Collins, 4 southward to Pueblo, Denver at the middle.
FRPR will start on the line’s northern portion first. The bulk of the passengers will come from either the north or south to Denver; a small fraction will want to travel through. (cf. ridership graphic)
The best option for the soonest rail service is joint service with RTD and FRPR; the start date would be 2029. This would provide redundancy north of Denver and there would be multiple funding sources.
The next speaker was Luis Mota, Project Manager at the Phoenix Light Rail Extension Project, which goes from South Central to the Downtown Hub. Besides making Valley Metro Rail a 2-line light-rail system, key features of the extension are facilitation of expanding the line westward and the crossover loops. The system also includes art installations and new lighting. The funding is 55% federal, 45% local; it includes a regional 0.5¢ sales tax and a city 0.7¢ sales tax. The Downtown Hub required removal and installation of tracks, building a duct bank, and building a new station. There were two archaeological zones and an old irrigation system to deal with. The new line also runs through roundabouts, which he explains is not an easy task.
Jordan Smith, Project Director-IBX, MTA Construction & Development, spoke on the Interborough Express (IBX) light-rail project in Brooklyn & Queens. This is a 14-mile transit project that will operate adjacent to existing infrastructure, with 11 miles owned by LIRR, 3 by CSX.
IBX is included in the MTA’s 2025–2029 Capital Program, but not in congestion-pricing funds. The line will have physical separation of passenger and freight service, will eliminate street running, and will put the ROW in a sealed corridor. Plans are for 19 stations, 13 with subway connections, plus LIRR at East New York and Woodside Avenue.
Michelle Tortolani, VP of Project Delivery-Fleet & Facilities at Amtrak, spoke on new rail car equipment. Active programs will replace 3 major fleets:
Five NextGen Acela train sets came into service in August 2025. Of the 28 train sets in the full order, 19 are complete. The operating speed will be 160 mph. There will be 27% more seats (386 per train) and 40% more trains.
Airo train sets are launching in 2026. The testing at Pueblo is already done. The first will be launched on Amtrak Cascades service; 165 vehicles are in production.
Long Distance fleet upgrades: Superliner interior refresh is underway; 50 more Charger locomotives will arrive in 2026. Procurement is underway for long-distance fleet replacement, including single and bilevel equipment. These are targeted to be in service in the 2030s.
Lori Kahikina, Executive Director & CEO at the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, gave an update on the Honolulu Rail Project. You may know that HARTs’ reputation in Hawai‘i is bad. Segments of “Skyline” opened from the less-populated west to the densely populated east. Because so much must be shipped in and there are extreme challenges, this project is expensive. You must drill through the soft substrate until you hit hard rock; e.g., a 357′ hole is needed for column foundation in Segment 2. At the airport there is a tight S curve, 70′ tall, which required temporary supports for the column. Then the guideway drops to the lowest part of the system. Moving to Segment 3, the City Center Utilities Relocation project started in 2022. Ms. Kahikina said that these utilities are more than 100 year old, there were no design standards back then, and the Dillingham part has every type utility in a tight corridor.
(System details: 19 miles long; 19 stations, from East Kapolei to Civic Center in Kaka’ako; 3rd rail powered. It will be remote-controlled with 2,100 cameras. The right-of-way, or ‘guideway’ is almost completly elevated.)
Steve Unger, (Co-Chair of Eastern Carolina Rail; Vice-Chair of North Carolinians for Passenger Rail), spoke on restoring passenger rail service between Raleigh and Wilmington. He and Gene Merritt formed an advocacy group in 2024 and held a public symposium. In 1840, the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad had longest railroad in the world, 161.5 miles of track; Atlantic Coast Line ran the last passenger service in 1968. Track needs to be laid again on much of the right-of-way. Speaking on the section Castle Hayne to Wallace: CSX removed 26 miles of tracks. State senators identified Wilmington&Weldon Rail Corridor as necessary for future growth, and in 1994 NCDOT purchased the “missing link” from CSX.
David Peter Alan, Railway Age, gave the closing remarks. He said in regards to new transit projects, more are busways than rail; join RUN and fight for transit; our opponents are fierce and well connected.
Coming up on April 16th is RUN’s next semiannual conference, Rail News & Rumors: the latest buzz concerning passenger rail in the US. Register on their site, railusers.net.
Leave a Reply