[3] A Jazz.com review notes that the title track, "Night Train," is evidence of Peterson's ability to balance musical innovation with popular appeal, as demonstrated throughout the album: "By using the basic elements of crescendo and diminuendo, and arranged sections to set off the parts, Peterson turns what could have been a throwaway into a minor masterpiece.

"[1] Night Train’s only original Oscar Peterson composition, "Hymn to Freedom," was written on the spot in the studio to close the album, following Norman Granz’s suggestion that the band include a song with a "definitive early-blues feel.

"[4] Peterson named the new song "Hymn to Freedom" in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., and after Harriette Hamilton wrote accompanying lyrics a year later, it became an unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights Movement.

[7] Writing for AllMusic, critic John Bush wrote the release "includes stately covers of blues and R&B standards".

[11] The Penguin Guide to Jazz included it in its core collection, calling it “one of the best-constructed long-players of the period"[3] and saying that Peterson's playing is "tight and uncharacteristically emotional".