# U. S. Cities With Metro Rail Service



## Zwanderlust (Apr 7, 2005)

How many U. S. cities with Metro rapid transit rail service (sub, surface, or elevated) can you name? Is it safe to say most cities of at least 400,000 pop. have them, or is it still considered infrastructure of the elite?

*Cities I know of:* 
New York City
Chicago
Atlanta
San francisco (two lines)
Los Angeles
San Jose
Oakland
Seattle (at least from the space needle to downtown)
Las Vegas (at least from MGM Grand to Bally)
Sacramento

To name a few...


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## Guest (Jun 26, 2005)

I wouldnt call SF or CHI metro systems. They are more commuter systems, in that they are designed to get people TO the city. CHI has the El but that is essentially a small city loop. 

Maybe you mean US cities with notable heavy rail systems?


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## mad_nick (May 13, 2004)

^Small city loop? The Chicago El is about 110 miles and has 151 stations.


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## SDfan (Apr 7, 2005)

San Diego has a costal metro rail system, stops in all the major beach cities...guess what it called? The Coaster! I know original. Theres also the Trolley that goes through the center city and the eastern cities as well. Finally there building another, diesel semi heavy-rail, in the North County that'll serve the major metro cities there.


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## James Saito (Nov 6, 2002)

Boston has an extensive metro system.


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## Zwanderlust (Apr 7, 2005)

Homeroids said:


> I wouldnt call SF or CHI metro systems. They are more commuter systems, in that they are designed to get people TO the city. CHI has the El but that is essentially a small city loop.
> 
> Maybe you mean US cities with notable heavy rail systems?


I concede I'm not the most learned person on the forum; consequently, anything one infers from my use of the word "metro" is fine with me. As long as I get people to participate in the dialogue, my mission is complete.

I appreciate your input.


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## hngcm (Sep 17, 2002)

SDfan said:


> San Diego has a costal metro rail system, stops in all the major beach cities...guess what it called? The Coaster! I know original. Theres also the Trolley that goes through the center city and the eastern cities as well. Finally there building another, diesel semi heavy-rail, in the North County that'll serve the major metro cities there.



It's a good name!


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## SDfan (Apr 7, 2005)

I like, don't worry. I just find it funny. I wonder why they didn't call the future Sprinter "the Inlander"...:lol: I was actually on the Coaster today, beautiful senery...better then a subway I always say.


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## rantanamo (Sep 12, 2002)

expand that list then


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## archifreese (May 5, 2005)

miami has a few unfortunately their not that good or extensive
Metromover (small downtown service elevated)
Metrorail (larger regional elevated)
Trirail (regular train from miami-dade to broward to palm beach)
allegedly were getting a streetcar but dont hold your breath.


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## nikko (Jul 23, 2004)

mad_nick said:


> ^Small city loop? The Chicago El is about 110 miles and has 151 stations.


I think he means transport within the inner city is only a small loop, which is kinda true considering the amount of station closures within the loop.

But I disagree with the commuter rail remark, the only commuter elements to the System are really the Skokie swift, Linden<>Howard shuttle and the Forest Park branch of the blue line.


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## Latin l0cO (Nov 8, 2004)

Do you all types of rail services including commuter rails? In that case a great number of Jersey cities/towns are serviced with NJ Transit lines which all connect to New York Penn Station. Some of these towns have a population of less than 25k.


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## Shawn (Nov 12, 2002)

Boston's MBTA Commuter Rail, which services as far south as Providence, RI (soon even further south to TF Green International Airport), as far west as Worcester, and as far north as the New Hampshire border, but with plans for the Lowell line's extension to Nashua, NH (one of Boston's biggest bedroom exurbs at just under 90,000 people). The Commuter Rail services 12 lines (soon to be 13 - the Greenbrush Line is currently under construction) with 119 stops (soon to be 128). There are also plans to extend lines to New Bedford and Fall River. There are currently 402.4 miles of Commuter Line track.









Boston's MBTA subway system. The Green Line is actually light rail (the most heavily used in North America, with over 200,000 bordings per day). In all, the MBTA moves about 1,173,000 riders per day and boasts the second highest ridership rate in the US behind NYC (or possibly third, I dont remember, Cirrus at SSP posted a list of ridership rates of US and Canadian cities, and Boston was either two or three).

The Green Line is legally bound for extension as part of the Big Dig:


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## chicagogeorge (Nov 30, 2004)

The CTA operates the nation's *second largest * public transportation system and covers the City of Chicago and 40 surrounding suburbs. On an average weekday, nearly *1.5 million rides * are taken on the CTA.

CTA has approximately *2,000 * buses that operate over 152 routes and 2,273 route miles. Buses provide about 1 million passenger trips a day and serve more than 12,000 posted bus stops. CTA's 1,190 rapid transit cars operate over seven routes and 222 miles of track. CTA trains provide about 500,000 customer trips each day and serve 144 stations. The Chicago has *723 miles of route track which includes over 70 miles of subways.* Metra is Chicago's "other" train system, but together with the "El" they are collectively called the RTA. Metra has 230 station in 7 Chicago area counties, and plans are in the works for a route to downtown Milwaukee. Metra commuter trains have a daily ridership of 370,000. Together with the CTA, thEe RTA hase a 870,000 passengers daily.

Here are some photos of Chicago's mass transit system. Enjoy.

Chicago Subway Logan Square Terminal On the NorthSide.









Logan Square Subway Platform

















Jeffeson Park NorthSide Station Elevated Terminal








Ohare airport Terminal BlueLine









Redline Madison St. Subway in the Loop









Montoe St. Subway









Monroe above ground enterance









Loop Clark/Lake Terminal
























































































































Loop Adams/Wabash above ground 








Belmont Elevated Platform NorthSide RedLine









South Loop Subway Roosevelt/State 

















Midway Airport Station SouthSide









ChinaTown SouthSide Cermak Station
















Annoyed by the photographer









Kedzie Stop BrownLine in Albany Park NorthSide
This is a block from my house:






























































*Pace is Chicago's suburban bus system*
In 2004 it had a ridership of 34.4 million.










CTA El 









Metra


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## Sounder (Oct 10, 2002)

Zwanderlust said:


> Seattle (at least from the space needle to downtown)


The Seattle area also has the Sounder commuter train to Everett & Tacoma (& places in between).


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## titeness (Jul 3, 2004)

Washington D.C. has one of the newest heavy rail Metro Systems (maybe L.A.s is newer?) in North America.











Maryland Suburban Rail











Virginia Rail Express


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## Guest (Jun 26, 2005)

mad_nick said:


> ^Small city loop? The Chicago El is about 110 miles and has 151 stations.


Sorry, I was referring to the El section raised on stilts in the City proper. It is just a loop. The Chicago system is not a metro, it is a commuter system. It is supplimented by the diesel rail network which goes out to the very outer suburbs. A metro is something like NY or many European train systems that interlink and commute people in highly dense areas.

Sorry, not trying to be smart here either . I was pulled over the ropes by another forumer when we were discussing the Sydney rail network. It is not a true metro either. A metro is like NYC or London Underground, I was told


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## samsonyuen (Sep 23, 2003)

Other cities that have metro rail: Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Portland, St. Louis, Denver, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Detroit (a tiny People Mover downtown), Jacksonville, Syracuse I can think of. 

>1 million cities without ones that I can think of: Phoenix, Kansas City, Milwaukee (though Chicagoland's Metra commuter rail goes to Kenosha, WI, and I believe is exploring going to Milwaukee), Charlotte, San Antonio, Austin, Tampa, Orlando, Indianapolis, Norfolk, New Orleans (they have a tourist trolley line I believe), Rochester, Memphis, Nashville, OKC

There's a bunch of maps of systems at: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=140635&page=1&pp=20


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## nikko (Jul 23, 2004)

Homeroids said:


> Sorry, I was referring to the El section raised on stilts in the City proper.


Homer, about 60-70% is elevated.


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## Effer (Jun 9, 2005)

Chicago and New York have the best ones.


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