IRJ: 60 Years of Railway Progress and Counting Written by Kevin Smith, Editor-in-Chief, International Railway Journal In 1964, IRJ co-founder Robert G. Lewis was among the first westerners to experience the Japanese Shinkansen. He marveled at the technology. This year, Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corp. celebrates 60 years of International Railway Journal, the world’s first truly global business-to-business publication for the railway industry. The pilot edition of IRJ was launched in October 1960, with regular monthly circulation beginning in January 1961. An advertisement in the inaugural edition endorsed IRJ as an international selling opportunity for railway suppliers. “In International Railway Journal, your advertising message can reach the growing worldwide market for railway products economically and efficiently in one magazine. IRJ is a separate international publication, not an international edition of a domestic magazine.”