PHILADELPHIA — A new company has announced plans to develop a private sleeper-train service connecting major destinations, and says it aims to have a demonstration unit in the second half of 2026.
Lunatrain, which describes itself as “a private, early-stage company,” says it will develop a network of express, non-stop night trains in the Midwest and on the East Coast to connect cities “that are too far for daytime trains to serve effectively.” Operations will be anchored in the New York and Philadephia areas, it says. Projected service stretch as far west as Denver, north to Toronto and Montreal, and south to New Orleans and Florida.
The company plans to focus on single-night journeys. It aims to offer accommodations for single travelers, couples and families that it says will be “a significant improvement over existing sleeping train options in the United States.” Trains will feature full-service and in-room dining options, WiFi, lounge space, and showers. It says it will not be a “luxury” operation and will be “cost competitive” with flights on the same routes.
Lunatrain says there is no timeline for when full-scale commercial service will begin.
The company’s founder and CEO, Mike Avena, comes from the biotech industry. He previously was head of information technology at Ori Biotech, which launched a cell therapy manufacturing platform, and before that was at Tmunity Therapeutics, a cell therpay developer focused on curing solid tumors.
Lunatrain says it “completed a feasibility analysis for the project in the first half of 2024 and has since developed robust financial projections for North American night trains.”
It becomes the second U.S. private night-train company currently seeking to begin operations. Dreamstar Lines announced plans for a luxury Los Angeles-San Francisco overnight train last spring, saying then that it aimed to begin operations in 2025 [see “Plans for private San Francisco-Los Angeles …,” Trains News Wire, March 25, 2024].
