American Railway Association (ARA)

The American Railway Association (ARA) was a national association of U.S. railroads and an early predecessor of the modern Association of American Railroads (AAR). It originated in the nineteenth-century railroad time conventions and is best remembered for the industry's role in establishing standardized railroad time.

History

• 1872: Time Conventions formed.
• 1875: Renamed the General Time Convention.
• 1892: Renamed the American Railway Association (ARA).
• 1919: Renamed the American Railroad Association (ARA) under the U.S. Railroad Administration, absorbing a number of specialized railroad organizations.

The American Railway Association's later form, the American Railroad Association, was one of the principal bodies consolidated in 1934 to form the AAR. Through this lineage the modern AAR carries forward functions that originated in these early industry associations.

In its earlier decades the association coordinated common operating practices among the nation's railroads and absorbed a number of specialized railroad bodies as the industry sought greater uniformity. Its standard-time work, which divided the country into time zones for railroad scheduling in 1883, was among the most lasting contributions of these early industry conventions. For the expanded 1919 form and the path to the modern AAR, see the entry for American Railroad Association (ARA).