Commuter rail in North America

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A Virginia Railway Express locomotive in push-pull commuter service (www.trainweb.com photo).

Commuter rail services in the United States, Canada, and soon Mexico provide common carrier passenger transportation along railway tracks, with scheduled service on fixed routes on a non-reservation basis primarily for short-distance (local) travel between a central business district and adjacent suburbs and regional travel between cities of a conurbation. It does not include rapid transit or light rail service.

Commuter rail operators often sell reduced fare multiple-trip tickets (such as a monthly or weekly pass), charge specific station-to-station fares, and have one or two stations in the central business district.

In the United States, inter-city and commuter trains are operated mostly by Amtrak over a network that is far less dense than ones found in Europe or Japan. The most heavily used routes with the greatest ridership and schedule frequencies are in the Northeastern United States and Chicago metropolitan area. About one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders live in the New York City metropolitan area. The two busiest passenger rail stations in the United States are Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal, both in New York City, which also serve the two busiest commuter railroads in the United States (Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad, respectively). The major commuter railroads serving Chicagoland are the Metra and South Shore Line. Passenger rail outside of Washington DC, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Montreal and Toronto is more infrequent and less extensively used relative to networks in European and Japanese cities of comparable size.

Many commuter railways offer service during peak times only, and on a round-trip basis. For example, West Coast Express runs trains only into Vancouver during the morning rush hour, and out to the suburbs in the evening. This mode of operation is in many cases simplified by ending the train with a special passenger carriage (referred to as a cab car), which has an operating cab attached to the end and can control the locomotive remotely so as to avoid having to turn the train around at each end of its route. Other systems avoid the issue entirely by using bi-directional multiple units. Commuter trains are typically connected to metro or bus services both at their destination and along their route to extend the range of accessibility.

Commuter trains are usually powered by diesel-electric or electric locomotives, or in some cases use self-contained multiple units. Electric power in some instances is transmitted via third rail or overhead wire and catenary. Electric power is often favoured where it is available due to quicker acceleration, lower noise, and fewer air-quality issues. Electric power and even more so multiple-unit trains are, however, much less common than on European railways.

Diesel-electric locomotives based on the EMD F40PH design as well as the F59PHI are popular commuter motive power. Gallery cars made by Nippon Sharyo, Budd, or Kawasaki are common rolling stock, as are Bombardier's BiLevel coaches. See also train.

Most commuter rail services in North America are operated by agencies of government entities or quasi-governmental organisations. Some share the tracks or rights-of-way used by Amtrak, VIA Rail, freight trains, or other commuter services. The 600 mile-long (960 km long) electrified Northeast Corridor in the United States is shared by commuter trains and Amtrak's Acela Express, regional, and intercity trains.

1 List of Canadian and U.S. commuter rail operators
2 Proposed and under construction
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] List of Canadian and U.S. commuter rail operators

There are 23 commuter rail systems in Canada and the United States. They are:

Canada
Metropolitan Area	Province	Main article	Official site	Other sites
Montreal	Quebec	Agence métropolitaine de transport	[1]
Toronto	Ontario	GO Transit	[2]
Vancouver	British Columbia	West Coast Express (TransLink)	[3]
United States
Metropolitan Area	State(s)	Main article	Official site	Other sites
Albuquerque	New Mexico	Rail Runner Express	[4]
Boston	Massachusetts, Rhode Island	MBTA Commuter Rail	[5]
Chicago	Illinois/Wisconsin	Metra	[6]
Chicago	Illinois/Indiana	South Shore Line (NICTD)	[7]
Dallas/Fort Worth	Texas	Trinity Railway Express	[8]
Los Angeles	California	Metrolink	[9]
Miami/Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach	Florida	Tri-Rail	[10]
Nashville	Tennessee	Music City Star	[11]
New Haven	Connecticut	Shore Line East	[12]
New York – Trenton /Philadelphia – Atlantic City	New Jersey	New Jersey Transit	[13]
New York – Long Island	New York	Long Island Rail Road	[14]
New York – New Haven	New York/Connecticut	Metro-North Railroad	[15]
Philadelphia	Pennsylvania/New Jersey/Delaware	SEPTA Regional Rail	[16]
San Diego	California	Coaster	[17]
San Francisco/San Jose	California	Caltrain	[18]
San Jose/San Joaquin and Alameda counties	California	Altamont Commuter Express	[19]
Seattle	Washington	Sounder (Sound Transit)	[20]
Syracuse	New York	OnTrack	[21]
Washington, DC/Baltimore	Maryland/Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia	MARC	[22]
Washington, DC	Virginia	Virginia Railway Express	[23]

[edit] Proposed and under construction

There are several commuter rail systems currently in development in Mexico and the United States.

Mexico
Metropolitan Area	State(s)	Main article	Official site	Other sites
Mexico City	Mexican Federal District, Estado de Mexico	Ferrocarril Suburbano de le Zona Metropolitana de México (under construction)	Ferrocarril Suburbano - Official Site	[24] [25]
Tijuana	Baja California	Tren Turístico	to come	[26] [27] [28]
U.S.
Metropolitan Area	State(s)	Main article	Official site	Other sites
Anchorage	Alaska	Alaska Railroad (existing long-distance railroad, proposed commuter service)	[29]	[30]
Atlanta	Georgia	Georgia Rail Passenger Program, Georgia Brain Train	[31], [32]
Austin	Texas	Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority/Capital Metro Commuter Rail	[33]
Charlotte	North Carolina	Charlotte Area Transit System (North Corridor)	[34]
Cloverdale - Larkspur (San Francisco)	California	SMART	[35]
Dallas	Texas	Denton County Transportation Authority	[36]
Denver	Colorado	FasTracks	[37]
Detroit	Michigan	SEMCOG Commuter Rail	[38] [39] [40]
Harrisburg/Lancaster	Pennsylvania	CorridorOne (Capital Area Transit)	[41]
Minneapolis	Minnesota	Northstar Corridor	[42]
New York	New York	Staten Island Railway (existing heavy-rail rapid transit, proposed commuter line)	[43]	[44]
Oceanside	California	Sprinter	[45]
Ogden - Salt Lake City	Utah	FrontRunner	[46]
Orlando	Florida	Central Florida Commuter Rail	[47]
Scranton, Pennsylvania / New Jersey / New York City	Pennsylvania / New Jersey / New York	Lackawanna Cutoff	[48]
Washington County (suburban Portland)	Oregon	Washington County Commuter Rail	[49]