2nd QUARTER 2024: This issue of PTJ compares and contrasts the development and implementation of high-speed rail (HSR) in the United States and Japan. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Japan’s Shinkansen, the famous “bullet trains” that launched the global HSR movement in 1964, and Editor Kevin J. Holland takes readers on a colorful tour of Japan’s past and present Shinkansen services. Surveying the American HSR landscape, Bill Anderson looks back at the debut of the Metroliners, the high-speed electrified trains developed in the 1960s as U.S. transportation planners took stock of those recent Japanese developments. Our coverage wraps up with a survey by Kevin McKinney and Kent Patterson of HSR developments both proposed and under construction, and an analysis by industry insider Brooks A. Bentz on the realities of funding. All this and more in the 2nd Quarter 2024 issue of Passenger Train Journal!
Amtrak to Introduce Second Train Between St. Paul and Chicago
The state-sponsored “Borealis” will make its debut on May 21.
Metroliner: The Train Service That Did It
The Penn Central Metroliner of the 1960s was a success because its riders, employees, and others supporting the service, made it so.
Harley’s Hornet: Amtrak in West Virginia
The politics and legacy of Amtrak’s “Potomac Special” and its kin serving West Virginia and the constituents of Sen. Harley O. Staggers.
The “Utah Parks Special”
Traveling with Union Pacific Railroad to the national parks of southern Utah was a seasonal vacation attraction until 1960.
The Lure of the North: Riding the Polar Bear Express
Now much more than a tourist train, the ride from Cochrane to Moosonee aboard Ontario Northland’s Polar Bear Express is a vital connection.
Explore the world of White River Productions
