Predecessor organization Go21 is incorporated “to advocate for policies and programs on the national, state and local levels that help meet the growing demand for freight transport while advancing the public’s interest in highway safety, reduced highway congestion, energy conservation, environmental protection and responsible use of tax dollars.” Target is set to begin operations starting in January 2005.

In its first year, Go21 conducts 3,800 pro-rail presentations with community leaders, and recruits 489 local leaders and more than 15,000 rail employees and retirees to engage as advocates highlighting the public benefits of freight rail.

On the CREATE program:

GoRail held its first online training seminar for 150 participants entitled Political Organizing: Background, Strategies, and Concepts in June 2007. Guest speakers included Go21 state and local elected leaders, who spoke about the effectiveness of grassroots advocacy on them and their colleagues.

Go21 placed “Thank You” ads in the local newspapers of 76 Senators and House members who cosponsored the Freight Rail Infrastructure Capacity Expansion Act (S. 1125 / H.R. 2116), a tax credit for infrastructure investments that expand rail network capacity. The ads provided members of Congress with positive recognition and helped turn them into advocates on behalf of pro-rail policies with their colleagues.

Proponents of railroad reregulation argued it would be good for businesses. In response, Go21 organized an “Open Letter to Congress” signed by over 1,000 businesses from 45 states — including more than 150 “main street” retail businesses; over 100 builders, contractors, and building materials suppliers; more than 150 manufacturers; over 300 rail supply companies; and more than 50 auto dealers and auto parts suppliers – telling Congress that reregulation would harm businesses and consumers across the country.

Go21 generated nearly 7,000 letters, calls, and emails to Congress coupled with 231 congressional meetings and submission of more than 500 letters to the editor. Among the results: 10 past reregulation cosponsors agreed to withdraw their support and 46 members cosponsored freight rail tax incentives.

Go21 participated in the third annual Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference, sponsored by the BlueGreen Alliance Foundation. More than 3,000 stakeholders—including union, environmental, business, and elected leaders—traveled to Washington, D.C., to share strategies for building the green economy. Go21 led a panel on how investments in freight rail can stimulate economic growth and contribute to the economic recovery while also greening the economy

Ansaldo STS USA hosts then-Congressman Jason Altmire in the first of many GoRail-organized rail supply company facility tours, which link rail policy decisions on Capitol Hill and jobs back home. Days after his visit, Rep. Altmire co-sponsored the Freight Rail Infrastructure Capacity Expansion Act.

Go21 officially changes name to GoRail.

GoRail recruits 30 members of the U.S. House to co-sign a letter to Surface Transportation Board Chairman Daniel Elliott in opposition to any changes in federal regulations that would hinder railroads’ ability to meet the growing need for freight transportation. The letter, sponsored by Representatives Richard Hanna (R-NY) and Richard Neal (D-MA), commended rail industry investment in modernization and praised railroads for sustaining and creating jobs while also increasing safety and fuel efficiency and reducing emissions.

GoRail worked with members of the National Association of Counties (NACo) to ensure NACo policy reflected their belief that rail reregulation would be harmful to their counties and which acknowledged the role of freight rail in driving local economic development. NACo committed to work with the rail industry on a policy that satisfied the concerns of counties without undermining the ability of railroads to reinvest in the rail network.

GoRail’s long-term program to educate and build relationships with key county officials bore fruit when the National Association of Counties (NACo) agreed to rescind a policy in support of the so-called Railroad Competition Act and to replace it with a statement in support of balanced economic regulation. The new policy stated: “NACo supports a strong, competitive freight rail system that promotes the economic development of our counties by helping shippers compete in national and global marketplaces. NACo supports an effective, and balanced, regulatory oversight of the nation’s freight railroads by the federal Surface Transportation Board.” GoRail made more than 300 presentations to county boards and individual county officials explaining the local benefits of preserving balanced rail regulation

GoRail and 42 community leaders and local officials, rail suppliers, and short line railroaders met with 124 congressional offices over the course of a single day, asking them to oppose legislation allowing longer or heavier trucks and to co-sign a letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on a pending USDOT truck size and weight study.

GoRail worked with rail labor representatives in 24 states to advance mutual policy goals including opposition to truck size and weight increases at the federal and state levels.

Norfolk Southern made GoRail’s 10th anniversary celebration truly memorable by commissioning a one-of-a-kind GoRail locomotive (No. 6963), which was unveiled following a reception at Union Station in Washington, D.C. on March 12. Congressmen Spencer Bachus (R-AL) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL) helped to mark the occasion, noting the importance of GoRail in educating the public and policymakers about the public benefits of rail.

GoRail more than doubled its social media audience to reach nearly 33,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter and doubled the level of engagement within our digital community. We also engaged supporters to submit more than 40 opinion pieces to local newspapers in conjunction with Railroad Day on Capitol Hill, National Infrastructure Week, and the launch of Operation Lifesaver’s “See Tracks Think Train” campaign.

GoRail helped demonstrate broad-based support for legislation reauthorizing the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act (PRRIA) when the U.S. House took it up in March 2015. In just a few days, we generated 517 pro-PRRIA grassroots emails to 246 representatives as well as targeted contacts from rail suppliers and local leaders. The legislation passed by its widest margin ever.

Over a six-day period, GoRail local leader advocates contacted 48 House offices in opposition to a proposed truck weight increase bill and generated 5,732 grassroots emails to 235 House offices and 99 Senate offices.

GoRail’s work in the fourth quarter of 2015 was devoted almost exclusively to building support for a realistic extension of the positive train control (PTC) implementation deadline in order to avoid large-scale disruption of freight and passenger rail service. In total, 248 public and rail supply advocates contacted 310 congressional offices urging extension of the PTC deadline. These contacts were comprised of letters, emails to congressional staff, phone calls, and social media interactions. In addition to activating our grassroots database and submitting op-ed articles by local advocates, we ran several promoted advertising campaigns across Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn featuring local leaders urging a PTC extension.

The redesigned GoRail.org was launched in July to complement our work in the field and serve as a nimbler platform for content to backstop social media and public-facing outreach. It provided new state-specific rail information for visitors as well as a new blog, Rail at Work, to highlight local rail stories around the country, helping to demonstrate the real-world impact of freight rail investments so massive that they can be difficult to fully comprehend. The new site also allowed us to feature many of our local leader rail advocates to put a face on the constituents and communities calling for smart rail policies, as well as to feature the rail supply companies that support GoRail and our mission.

GoRail devoted much of its 2017 activities to countering economic reregulation. Deliverables included: a letter to the STB opposing forced access signed by 457 local community, business, and government leaders; 1,660 letters from GoRail State Directors to key members of 32 state legislatures directly countering anti-rail messaging from reregulation proponents; 1,200+ field meetings discussing how rail reregulation would harm communities; 20+ earned media pieces published.

For Infrastructure Week 2017, GoRail unveiled a new animation on the public benefits of freight rail as part of a larger grassroots recruitment effort aimed at bolstering social media and newsletter subscribers. Through promoted posts on social media, the animation was viewed over 400,000 times.

GoRail’s busy staff conducted over 225 meetings with community leaders across 11 states in the month of March, spreading the pro-rail message and rallying constituents to contact their U.S. senators and representatives about the importance of freight rail to their states and districts.

Members of NACo’s Transportation Steering Committee joined GoRail and industry officials in Pueblo, CO to see first-hand how the rail industry is on the cutting edge of technology and innovation. Commissioners got a hands-on look, for example, at how positive train control (PTC) is activated in the cab of a locomotive. They also witnessed demonstrations of drone operations, bridge testing, track and wheel health and wayside detectors—in addition to interacting directly with the engineers and rail experts who design, develop and test these technologies.

Amid an historic pandemic, GoRail worked to recognize freight rail #supplychainheroes on social media and with a series of more than 30 published letters to editors of local newspapers.

To commemorate 40 years of the Staggers Act and remind policymakers of its continued importance, GoRail embarked on a months-long campaign to recruit 1,000 influential leaders to sign a letter to the Surface Transportation Board and Congress. A national bipartisan coalition including more than 320 mayors, commissioners and local government representatives; over 230 state legislators; more than 200 business leaders, ports and economic development organizations; nearly 90 think tanks and policy groups; 150 rail supply companies and associations; and 25 former administration officials and congressional leaders, including seven former U.S. Secretaries of Transportation, urged national policymakers to consider the industry-saving history of the Staggers Act when approaching rail regulation in the future.

As Congress focused on infrastructure legislation, GoRail recruited 100+ local leaders to co-sign a letter to members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. We also activated our online Action Center, generating over 800 grassroots email reinforcing priorities like restoring the Highway Trust Fund and preserving balanced economic regulation.

GoRail worked with 31 political and business leaders from 25 states on a letter to the Secretary of Transportation, the Chairman of the STB, and the Deputy Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration expressing concerns about unintended consequences of regulatory overreach in an Executive Order impacting rail. A press release covered by Progressive Railroading, American Journal of Transportation, Freight Waves and Transportation Today, and an op-ed co-authored by several of the signers, “Rail Revolution Requires Smart Policy Choices” helped reinforce the message of the letter.

In advance of a March public hearing on reciprocal switching at the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) and an early February deadline for written comments, GoRail engaged community leaders and grassroots advocates to highlight how the proposed rule would harm individual states and localities. We coordinated the filing of 25 different state coalition letters to the official STB docket as well as a grassroots letter opposing forced switching signed by over 350 stakeholders, including short line and Class I rail employees, rail suppliers and contractors and grassroots advocates.

New and expanded funding through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) sought to maximize rail's role in building a more resilient and sustainable infrastructure network. GoRail worked to get the word out about the full range of new or enhanced rail-related funding programs, focusing primarily on ensuring state, county and local stakeholders were aware of the new Grade Crossing Elimination Program. Highlights from our work on grants in 2022 included conducting over 400 virtual meetings and presentations in the field; developing a suite of educational materials for local leaders, including a comprehensive Rail Grant Hub with in-depth grant program details; and hosting a webinar on “Navigating the U.S. DOT Grant Process” with more than 75 local leaders in attendance.

Across nearly 1,000 in-person and virtual meetings, educated local leaders on the rail industry’s strong safety record and raised concerns that overly prescriptive regulations would undermine safety by dissuading innovation and ongoing railroad initiatives to improve accident prevention and response. We also organized a group letter signed by 92 organizations in 31 states to leaders of the Senate Commerce and House T&I Committees urging a targeted approach to rail safety legislation and hosted a webinar entitled “State of Rail Safety and the Policy Path Forward,” for more than 100 local elected leaders, economic development officials, and first responders.

The Environmental Protection Agency is currently considering an unworkable regulation from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) that would require zero-emission railroad locomotives starting in 2030 — even though the type of zero-emission technology required is not commercially viable.