Railways in the

United States of America

Railways or Railroads?
Contrary to popular belief, not all rail businesses in the USA are referred to as Railroads. It is true that most of the major national carriers are so named, but there are many smaller concerns that use the name Railway; in the past, the proportion of these was even greater, perhaps as many as half the total number of companies. For this reason, as well as for consistency with my other pages, I shall use the term railway here, except when referring to the actual name of a company. There are a few other differences in vocabulary between British and US usage; see the Glossary.

Because of the size and complexity of the subject, the railways of the USA are dealt with in a series of separate pages, indexed below.

These pages cover railways in the mainland United States, that is, the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia:

• History
• Long Haul Freight Carriers
• Regional and Local Freight Carriers
• National Passenger Carrier
• High Speed Rail
• Regional and Commuter Passenger Carriers
• Tourist and Museum Railways
• Metros and Trams

Separate articles cover the other two states and various offshore islands:

• Alaska
• Hawaii
• Florida Keys
• Islands of Massachusetts

Overseas Territories

• Puerto Rico
• Virgin Islands

Special articles

• Transportation Technology Center
• NASA's private railway
• Very Large Array
• Railways around Spruce WV

© 2007-2011 Glyn Williams
Flag image from CIA World Factbook