By Justin Franz
As the year draws to a close, the editors of Railfan & Railroad Magazine are looking at some of the biggest stories in railroading in 2024. Be sure to check Railfan.com every weekday all year long for all your (free) railroad news and if you like what you see, consider subscribing.
While critics would argue the North American passenger rail system has a long way to go to catch up with those on other continents, the 2020s are turning into a decade of renewal — as first noted in our year-end review back in 2022. This year was no different, with the announcement of major investments in equipment and infrastructure from coast to coast.
Perhaps the biggest story in passenger railroading in 2024 was the transition from diesels to electrics on Caltrain. Stadler electric trains made their long-awaited public debut on Caltrain in August and September, capping off a years-long effort to put wire over the San Francisco Peninsula commuter railroad. The arrival of the new electrics for service between San Francisco and San Jose will have huge environmental impacts on the region and has also encouraged more riders. It also meant the end of the line for Caltrain’s fleet of F40PHs, although a few weeks later it was learned that 19 of the iconic EMDs would be heading for Peru.
Amtrak ALC-42 342 and P42 174 show off Amtrak’s new Phase VII livery. Photo Courtesy of Amtrak.
This year will go down as a memorable one for Amtrak, which attracted a record-breaking 32.8 million passengers during the 2024 Fiscal Year. The railroad also brought in $2.5 billion in ticket revenue, another record that was a 9 percent year-over-year increase. Some of those riders were aboard the railroad’s newest train, the Borealis, which attracted 18,500 people during its first month of operation. The new Chicago-St. Paul train complements Amtrak’s Hiawatha service between Chicago and Milwaukee and Empire Builder service between there and St. Paul. The Borealis was actually one of two “new” trains Amtrak introduced; although the second one was really a combination of two old ones. In November, Amtrak “temporarily” combined the Chicago to Washington D.C., Capitol Limited and the New York City to Miami Silver Star into one train called the Floridian. The train is meant to free up track space in New York during the East River Tunnel rehabilitation while also freeing up Superliners from the Capitol for western long-distance routes.
The East River Tunnel project was just one of a number of projects to benefit from Federal Railroad Administration grants this year. In November, the FRA announced it would be spending nearly $1.5 billion on 19 projects up and down the Northeast Corridor, on top of more than $16.4 billion in federal and state grants announced in 2023. The funding was made possible by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This year, Amtrak also announced that it was formally beginning the search for new passenger equipment for its long-distance routes. Meanwhile, Amtrak continued to expand the use of its newest paint scheme, the flashy Phase VII, which showed up on locomotives in the spring and passenger cars by the end of the year.
A rendering of what VIA Rail hopes its new long-distance fleet will look like.
North of the border, VIA Rail Canada announced that it was officially launching the “Request for Qualifications” process to search for builders to construct a new fleet of passenger equipment for the railroad’s long-distance, regional and remote services. The announcement came weeks after VIA kicked off the search for its new fleet of long-distance diesel locomotives.
Finally, in what could become the defining passenger rail project of the decade, Brightline West broke ground on a new high-speed rail line that by 2028 will connect the Los Angeles area with Las Vegas. The $12 billion project, part of which is being funded with federal money, will result in the nation’s first true high-speed passenger train that will reach speeds of 186 miles per hour.