U.S. rail regiments moved both troops and supplies for the AEF and for the allies from the seaports to the front.

Organization began with a survey group established by Secretary of War Newton D. Baker and railway executive Samuel Morse Felton Jr.

This group, led by William Barclay Parsons, examined docks and rail traffic and recommended a solution for the United States.

[2]: 102–103 France had six railway systems: the Etat, Nord, Est, Paris-Orleans, Paris-Lyon-Mediterranee, and Midi.

[2]: 107 Almost twenty thousand American-made railway cars were received in France during the war and after the armistice.