 Lying on the natural route from Philadelphia to the western part of Pennsylvania, Lancaster County has given rise to many improvements in transportation, such as the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, later part of the Lincoln Highway, in 1794, a canal in 1820, and the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad in 1834.


, passenger service in Lancaster County is provided by Amtrak, whose "Keystone Corridor" passes through the county, with stops at Lancaster, Mount Joy and Elizabethtown.A station is planned at Paradise to provide connecting service with the Strasburg Railroad, which runs passenger excursions from nearby Leaman Place to Strasburg.The principal freight operator in the county is Norfolk Southern Railway (NS).