Urban rail transitUrban rail transit is a wide term for various types of local rail systems providing passenger service within and around urban or suburban areas. The set of urban rail systems can be roughly subdivided into the following categories, which sometimes overlap because some systems or lines have aspects of multiple types. TypesTramA tram, streetcar, or trolley system is a rail-based transit system that runs mainly or completely along streets (with street running), with a relatively-low capacity and frequent stops; how...
New York City SubwayThe New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City, serving four of the city's five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 27, 1904, the New York City Subway is one of the world's oldest public transit systems, and the one with the most stations, with 423 stations in operation (472, if ...
Rapid transitRapid transit, mass rapid transit (MRT) or rail rapid transit (RRT) and commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separated rapid transit line below ground surface through a tunnel can be regionally called a subway, tube, metro or underground. They are sometimes grade-separated on elevated railways, in which case some are referred to as elevated, el or L trains – short for "elevated" – or skytrains. A common alternative term for...
TramA tram (also known as a tramcar, or a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit type in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unittrains, run on tramway tracks laid on public streets, although some trams run on sections of track in their own segregated right-of-way. Trams are a type of light rail and are included within this broader category. However, they differ from it in their frequent integration into urban streets, lower traffic signal priority, coexist...
Light metroLight metro, light rapid transit (LRT) or a medium-capacity system (MCS), is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than rapid transit. It typically resembles a rapid transit system in terms of infrastructure, but typically features shorter (2–4 car) trains and smaller stations, and may have a differing network topology. Since ridership determines the scale of a rapid transit system, statistical modeling allows planners to size the rail system for the needs of the area. When ...
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. It is located on a harbour at the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. The city is the fourth-most populous city in North America, behind Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles, with a census population of 2,794,356 as of 2021. The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is constituted of Toronto proper and four surrounding regions, Peel, York, Durham, and Halton, and has a population of 6,712,341, while the Toronto cens...
Multiple unitA multiple-unit train (or multiple unit (MU)) is a self-propelled train or trainset composed of one or more carriages joined, and where one or more of the carriages have the means of propulsion built in. By contrast, a locomotive-hauled train has all of the carriages unpowered. An implication of this is that all powered carriages must be controllable by a single engineer or driver, which falls under the broader concept of multiple-unit train control. In other words, all "multiple units" employ some variation of ...
San Diego TrolleyThe San Diego Trolley is a light rail system serving San Diego County, California. The trolley's operator, San Diego Trolley, Inc. (reporting mark SDTI), is a subsidiary of the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS). The trolley operates as a critical component of MTS, with connections to and integrated travel tickets with the local bus systems. The trolley system serves 62 stations, over about 67.9 miles (109.3 km) of route, using four primary lines (Blue, Orange, Green, and Copper) that operate daily, and...
StadtbahnStadtbahn (German pronunciation: [ˈʃtatˌbaːn] ; German for 'city railway'; plural Stadtbahnen) is a German word referring to various types of urban rail transport. One type of transport originated in the 19th century, firstly in Berlin and followed by Vienna, where rail routes were created that could be used independently from other traffic. In the 1960s and 1970s, Stadtbahn networks were created again but now by upgrading tramways or light rail lines. This process includes adding segments built to rapid tra...
Portland, OregonPortland ( PORT-lənd) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located in the Pacific Northwest at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, it is the 28th-most populous city in the United States, sixth-most populous on the West Coast, and fourth-most populous in the Pacific Northwest (after Seattle, Washington; Vancouver, Canada; and Surrey, Canada), with a population of 652,503 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolitan area, with over 2.54 million residents, is the 26th-largest m...
ClevelandCleveland ( KLEEV-lənd) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the lake from the Canadian province of Ontario, and is approximately 60 miles (97 kilometers) west of the Ohio–Pennsylvania state line. Cleveland is the most populous city on Lake Erie, the 2nd-most populous city in Ohio (after Columbus), and the 53rd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 372,624 at the 2020 census. The...
Rolling stockThe term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can be unpowered, or self-propelled, single or multiple units. In North America, Australia and other countries, the term consist ( KON-sist) is used to refer to the rolling stock that a train comprises, a list containing specific information for each car of a train, or a group of...
Right of wayA right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access highways, railroads, canals, hiking paths, bridle paths for horses, bicycle paths, the routes taken by high-voltage lines (also known as wayleave), utility tunnels, or simply the paved or unpaved local roads used by different types of traffic. The term highway is often used ...*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.