How is America's Future Shaped by the Story We Tell About Rail?

America can't build the future on a system that's been cast as the villain. 

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak to Minnesota’s regional railroads - leaders working to keep America connected. They were generous with their time and trust, but I didn’t deliver what that room deserved.

I mistakenly improvised, based on conversations I'd had with individuals the day before. I started by trying to explain the cultural forces working against freight rail, but I fumbled the message. So this post begins my attempt to get the facts out there in a way that makes sense. 

Rail is the only mode of transportation we routinely portray as the threat.

In headlines, derailments lead the national news. Other land-based transit disasters stay local.

In language: railroaded, derailed, trainwreck - all shorthand for disaster.

In film: if a train is a significant feature, odds are that it represents death or destruction.

In public memory: freight rail hasn’t symbolized progress or captured America's hearts and minds since the golden spike was driven, connecting East to West.

Even when Association of American Railroads, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, and others publish legitimately amazing data - on safety, emissions, efficiency - it doesn't shift the narrative. The positives don’t stick. 

This isn’t just a PR problem. It’s a foundational one.

When communities subconsciously view rail as a menace or a relic, they zone accordingly. They fight access. They blame the industry for things it doesn’t control - viewing it as an adversary, not an asset.

So how do we turn that around?

At Railtowns, we start by telling a truth that railroads aren't in a position to share: Rail isn’t the villain. It’s one of the few tools we have left that can meaningfully reduce congestion, emissions, and long-haul inefficiency at scale. 

Then we equip communities to see what rail is - and isn’t. Not through press releases, but through site-specific analysis, policy walk-throughs, and plain-language engagement. Like - a dollar invested in rail/community infrastructure like an overpass can return over 10x its value - just in preventing damage to roads, accident avoidance, and time savings. 

We are partners to both rail and community, representing the success of the ecosystem, not one against the other. 

That’s what Railtowns.org is here to do. And in the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing more messages I didn’t get right in Minnesota - because the story we tell about rail shapes the infrastructure we build, the communities we serve, and the future we get.