Up and running

Up and running

“Up and running.”

Up and running is an expression we use when a process has started . Something is up and running when it has started and when it is operating .

We use this with systems , machines , and processes . And we say something is up and running if started recently or, as you’ll see, if it was paused for some reason.

Physical systems

Let’s start by using “up and running” with a system.

They’re building a lot of wind farms these days. These are collections of large windmills . The South Fork Wind Farm is a wind farm off the coast of Long Island, near New York City. Construction began in about 2019. It took a long time. And in March 2024, the system was connected to the electricity grid and it started generating power .

When that happened, the wind farm was up and running. Why do we use “up and running” in this case?

A wind farm is a big system . It’s either working—generating electricity—or it’s not. When it started working, when it was connected to the electricity grid, the system became operational . Now, just recently, right before, it was not operational. So on the day it became operational, people said it was finally up and running.

Processes

Now let’s use “up and running” with a process.

Election Day in the United States is the first Tuesday in November. Or is it? In most states, voters have the option to vote early, in person or by mail . In every state in the western United States, early voting has been up and running since at least 2004.

This is a process that’s working. It’s going; it’s operating. It hasn’t always been working like this, but it is now. That’s why we say it has been up and running, in those western states , since 2004. Early voting isn’t a physical machine or system like a wind farm. But it’s an ongoing process . And we can use “up and running” when we want to say this process has started.

A long time ago, American voters had to vote in person, on Election Day, unless they had a valid excuse . But gradually the states introduced new, more flexible voting procedures .

Every state does it differently. But full early voting is up and running in about 37 out of the 50 states.

We use “up and running” because this is a process that is now operational.

Future plans

Here’s how you can use “up and running” about something that is planned for the future. A company called Brightline is building a train to connect Las Vegas with the Los Angeles area. The train isn’t operating right now. They’re still building the tracks and the infrastructure . But they hope the train will be up and running in 2028.

They hope, they predict , that it will be open, that trains will be running on that line, serving passengers in 2028. They hope it will be up and running by then.

‘Back up and running’

All the examples I’ve given so far are about a system or a process that starts its operations. The wind farm is brand new; now it’s up and running. They hope a new train to Las Vegas will be up and running in 2028 because there’s no train now. So “up and running” often describes when a system first begins operations.

But there’s a variation on this expression called “back up and running.” And we use this when a system has been restored after an unexpected pause .

The online system that many American car dealers use to process car sales… the system went down after a hack . The system was fine—it’s been around for a long time. But then it was hacked and the system went down. Thousands of car dealers had to switch to paper and pencil for a few days.

But then the system was restored . They fixed the hack . And the system was turned on again ; it was available again. And when that happened, they said: “The system is back up and running.”

“Back up and running” means: it’s operational again after a pause.

Imagine that a factory is operating, producing cars, let’s say. And then imagine the workers go on strike . The factory’s production shuts down temporarily . It stops. After the strike is resolved and the workers go back to work, you can say, the factory is back up and running.

See you next time!

And that’s all for us here at Plain English. This was episode number 701. Remember to get the full story at PlainEnglish.com/701. And you can also practice using “up and running” in the practice area of the transcript. You write your own sentence and I’ll give you feedback, so you know you’re doing it right.

We’ll be back on Monday with a new story. See you then.