Solutionary Rail is a campaign to put US rail and rail corridors in service of the public interest. 

In 2016, we published a book to launch our campaign. In 2024, we  launched our Reconnect America podcast. All along the way we have been sharing the lessons learned and building a compelling vision for the future. Step by step, we are building an unconventional alliance, amplifying a sense of common cause among often unlikely allies, and leaning into the Reconnect America theme to transcend political polarization and deliver a set of infrastructure solutions that address some of the most vexing social, economic, and environmental problems of our time. 

Our objectives are threefold: 

1. electrification of freight and passenger rail, prioritizing rail yards that impact community health,
2. modeshift of freight and passengers off trucks, cars and planes and onto trains through improvements in capacity, access and service, and
3. co-locate electric transmission along railroad rights-of-way to unlock stranded renewable energy resources. 

Solutionary Rail is a project of the Backbone Campaign, a 501c3 nonprofit organization based in Washington State that began in 2004. Backbone Campaign uses creative props to animate community values, in order to manifest a world where life, community, nature, and our obligations to future generations are honored as sacred.