From the Editor: 25 for '25 — Our most-read Daily News stories in 2025

By Pat Foran, Editor-in-Chief

For many in rail country, 2025 will be remembered as the year of the (proposed) U.S. transcon merger.

For others, it will be remembered as yet another year of considerable uncertainty for Amtrak.

The proposed Union Pacific Railroad-Norfolk Southern Railway merger, which dominated the headlines during the year’s last five-and-a-half months, and the Trump administration’s out-of-the-2025-gate interest in the national passenger railroad that generated a series of stories during the first half, were the most-read Daily News stories on ProgressiveRailroading.com in 2025.

In general and as ever, readers couldn’t get enough Class I news, particularly items about the aforementioned UP-NS merger (because of course), but also pretty much anything involving the privately held BNSF Railway. I expect these readership trends to continue in 2026 and for the foreseeable future (because of course).

But! Back to the year that was. Here are the most-read Daily News stories of ’25:

1. “Reports: Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern in early merger talks” (7/18/2025)
2. “BNSF using AI for monitoring train assembly inventory management” (1/14/2025)
3. “Trump administration pulls $64M Amtrak grant for Texas high-speed rail project” (4/15/25)
4. “Amtrak lays off 250, cuts another 200 open management roles” (5/9/25)
5. “Union Pacific to transfer commuter lines’ train operations to Metra in April” (2/11/2025)
6. “CN posts ‘strong’ Q3 results, lays off 400 managers, report says” (10/31/25)
7. “Musk says feds should privatize Amtrak; Duffy orders anti-crime plan for DC station” (3/7/25)
8. “BNSF sets $38 billion capex for 2025” (1/24/25)
9. “BREAKING: Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern confirm ‘advanced’ merger talks” (7/24/25)
10. “Progressive Railroading announces 50 Women of Influence in Rail” (2/3/25)
11. “Report: White House forced Amtrak CEO Gardner to resign” (3/20/25)
12. “BNSF CEO Farmer comments on UP post-merger plan for intermodal lanes” (11/13/2025)
13. “CPKC rolls out 2025 Holiday Train schedule” (10/10/25)
14. “NTSB: NS engineer failed to follow speed restrictions in 2024 multitrain collision” (4/30/25)
15. “Norfolk Southern: Customers invested $4.3B in new, expanded facilities in 2024” (1/22/25)
16. “European rail group knocks Amtrak’s views on privatization” (3/24/25)
17. “BREAKING: Union Pacific Railroad to acquire Norfolk Southern in $85B deal” (7/29/25)
18. “Trump names Fuchs chair of STB” (1/21/25)
19. “Report: Amtrak to end DEI resources, enforce 4-day office mandate” (2/7/25)
20. “BNSF replaces South Transcon mainline bridge in two weekends” (2/26/25)
21. “AAR to USDOT: Repeal 2-person train crew rule” (5/7/25)
22. “Industry analysts, stakeholders react to UP-NS merger proposal” (7/30/25)
23. “Report: Buffett denies Goldman advising BNSF on potential CSX deal” (7/22/25)
24. “CSX board replaces Joe Hinrichs with Steve Angel as president, CEO” (9/29/25)
25. “Trump fires Surface Transportation Board member Primus” (8/28/25)