Empirical formal methods (FMs) aim to ground the development, evaluation, and deployment of formal techniques in software engineering through systematic observation, data collection, and analysis. In the context of safety-critical domains such as railways, the need to balance mathematical rigor with practical feasibility makes empirical approaches particularly relevant. In this keynote summary, I will outline the scope and significance of empirical FMs, and present a retrospective on my experience applying these approaches in railway system development and verification. Drawing on a series of industrial and collaborative projects, I will discuss how empirical software engineering techniques such as surveys, systematic literature reviews, case studies, judgment studies, and tool evaluations have been used to assess the applicability, usability, and impact of FMs in practice. I will conclude with a roadmap for strengthening the empirical evidence base for FMs in railways, identifying research gaps and practical strategies to improve their integration into industrial processes, toolchains, and certification workflows.