Commuter rail in North America

Commuter rail services in the United States, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica 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.

Many, but not all, newer commuter railways offer service during peak times only, with trains into the central business district during morning rush hour and returning to the outer areas during the evening rush hour. 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 and can control the locomotive remotely, to avoid having to turn the train around at each end of its route. Other systems avoid the problem entirely by using bi-directional multiple units.

Other commuter rail services, many of them older, long-established ones, operate seven days a week, with service from early morning to after midnight. On these systems, patrons use the trains not just to get to and from work or school, but also for attending sporting events, concerts, theatre, and the like. Some also provide service to popular weekend getaway spots and recreation areas. The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) is the only commuter railroad that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in North America.

Almost all commuter rail services in North America are operated by government entities or quasi-governmental organizations. Most share tracks or rights-of-way used by longer-distance passenger services (e.g. Amtrak, Via Rail), freight trains, or other commuter services. The 600-mile-long (970 km) electrified Northeast Corridor in the United States is shared by commuter trains and Amtrak's Acela Express, regional, and intercity trains.

Commuter rail operators often sell reduced-price multiple-trip tickets (such as a monthly or weekly pass), charge specific station-to-station fares, and have one or two railroad stations in the central business district. Commuter trains typically connect to metro or bus services at their destination and along their route.

After the completion of SEPTA Regional Rail's Center City Commuter Connection in 1981, which allowed through-running between two formerly separate radial networks, the term "regional rail" began to be used to refer to commuter rail (and sometimes even larger heavy rail and light rail) systems that offer bidirectional all-day service and may provide useful connections between suburbs and edge cities, rather than merely transporting workers to a central business district.^[1] This is different from the European use of "regional rail", which generally refers to services midway between commuter rail and intercity rail that are not primarily commuter-oriented.

Some transit lines in the NYC metropolitan areas have commuter lines that act like a regional rail network, as lines often converge at one point and pass as a main line to the destination station. They also pass through large business areas (ie Harlem, Jamaica, Stamford, Metropark), and some lines operate every 5–10 minutes during peak hours, and roughly every 15 minutes during off hours.

The two busiest passenger rail stations in the United States are Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central Terminal, which are both located in the Borough of Manhattan in New York City, and which serve three of the four busiest commuter railroads in the United States (the Long Island Rail Road and NJ Transit at Penn Station, and the Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road at Grand Central Terminal). The commuter railroads serving the Chicago area are Metra (the fourth-busiest commuter railroad in the United States) and the South Shore Line (one of the last surviving interurbans). Other notable commuter railroad systems include SEPTA Regional Rail (fifth-busiest in the US), serving the Philadelphia area; MBTA Commuter Rail (sixth-busiest in the US), serving the Greater Boston-Providence area; Caltrain, serving the area south of San Francisco along the peninsula as far as San Jose; and Metrolink, serving the 5-county Los Angeles area.

There are only three commuter rail agencies in Canada: GO Transit in Toronto (the fifth-busiest in North America), Exo in Montreal (eighth-busiest in North America), and West Coast Express in Vancouver. The two busiest rail stations in Canada are Union Station in Toronto and Gare Centrale in Montreal.

Commuter rail networks outside of densely populated urban areas like the Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Montreal, and Toronto metropolitan areas have historically been sparse. Since the 1990s, however, several commuter rail projects have been proposed and built throughout the United States, especially in the Sun Belt and other regions characterized by urban sprawl that have traditionally been underserved by public transportation. Since then, commuter rail networks have been inaugurated in Dallas–Fort Worth, Los Angeles, San Diego, Minneapolis, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Orlando, among other cities. Several more commuter rail projects have been proposed and are in the planning stages.

Commuter trains are either powered by diesel-electric or electric locomotives, or else use self-propelled cars (some systems, such as the New York area's Metro-North Railroad, use both). A few systems, particularly around New York City, use electric power, supplied by a third rail and/or overhead catenary wire, which provides quicker acceleration, lower noise, and fewer air-quality issues. Philadelphia's SEPTA Regional Rail uses exclusively electric power, supplied by overhead catenary wire.

Diesel-electric locomotives based on the EMD F40PH design as well as the MP36PH-3C are popular as motive power for commuter trains. Manufacturers of coaches include Bombardier, Kawasaki, Nippon Sharyo, and Hyundai Rotem. A few systems use diesel multiple unit vehicles, including WES Commuter Rail near Portland and Austin's Capital MetroRail. These systems use vehicles supplied by Stadler Rail or US Railcar (formerly Colorado Railcar).

UC=Under construction.

Metropolitan area(s)	Country	System	Province / State	Number of lines	Avg. weekday ridership (Q4 2018)[2]	Electrified
San Jose–Tri-Valley–Stockton	USA	Altamont Corridor Express (ACE)	California	1 (2 UC)	6,100	No
San Francisco–San Jose	USA	Caltrain	California	1	57,000	Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC (partially, north of San Jose)
Sacramento–San Francisco Bay Area	USA	Capitol Corridor[note 1]	California	1	5,700	No
San Diego–Oceanside	USA	Coaster	California	1	4,500	No
San Bernardino	USA	Arrow	California	1		No
Brunswick–Portland–Boston	USA	Downeaster[note 1]	Maine / New Hampshire / Massachusetts	1	1,300	No
Montreal	CAN	Exo	Quebec	5	83,300	No
Ogden–Salt Lake City–Provo	USA	FrontRunner[3]	Utah	1	19,200	No
Toronto–Greater Golden Horseshoe	CAN	GO Transit	Ontario	8	271,000	Planned, likely completion in 2032.[4]
New Haven / Hartford / Springfield / New London	USA	CT Rail	Connecticut / Massachusetts	2		No (Hartford Line) Overhead line, 12 kV 25 Hz AC and 25 kV 60 Hz AC (Shore Line East)
Havana	CUB	Havana Suburban Railway	La Habana / Artemisa / Mayabeque / Matanzas	8		No (Lines 1 to 7) Overhead line, 600 V DC (Hershey Railway)
Greater Metropolitan Area	CRI	Interurbano Line	San José / Alajuela / Cartago / Heredia	3		No
Mexico City–Toluca	MEX	El Insurgente	Mexico City / Mexico	1		Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC
Harrisburg–Philadelphia–New York City	USA	Keystone Service[note 1]	Pennsylvania / New York	1	5,000	Overhead line, 12 kV 25 Hz AC
New York City–Long Island	USA	Long Island Rail Road	New York	11	360,000	Third rail, 750 V DC (only parts of the network)
Baltimore–Washington, D.C.	USA	MARC Train	Maryland / West Virginia / District of Columbia	3	23,500	No (Brunswick Line, Camden Line) Overhead line, 12 kV 25 Hz AC (Penn Line)
Boston / Worcester / Providence	USA	MBTA Commuter Rail	Massachusetts / Rhode Island	12 (1 UC)	121,600	No
Chicago metropolitan area	USA	Metra	Illinois / Wisconsin	11	277,100	Overhead line, 1,500 V DC (Metra Electric District) No (Other lines)
Los Angeles–Southern California	USA	Metrolink	California	8	37,600	No
New York City / New Haven / Poughkeepsie	USA	Metro-North Railroad	New York / Connecticut	8 (1 UC)	315,700	Overhead line, 12 kV 25 Hz AC Third rail, 750 V DC (only parts of the network)
Northern New Jersey–New York City Philadelphia–Atlantic City	USA	NJ Transit Rail Operations	New Jersey / New York / Pennsylvania	12 (1 UC)	238,082 (FY2017)[5][note 2]	Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC Overhead line, 12 kV 25 Hz AC (only parts of the network)
Albuquerque–Santa Fe	USA	New Mexico Rail Runner Express	New Mexico	1	2,500	No
Minneapolis–Saint Paul	USA	Northstar Line	Minnesota	1	2,600	No
Panama City–Colón	PAN	Panama Canal Railway	Panamá / Colón	1	1,500 (2013)[6][needs update]	No
Denver	USA	RTD Rail	Colorado	4	28,700	Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC
Santa Rosa–San Rafael	USA	Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit	California	1		No
Chicago–South Bend	USA	South Shore Line	Illinois / Indiana	1 (1 UC)	10,900	Overhead line, 1,500 V DC
Philadelphia	USA	SEPTA Regional Rail	Pennsylvania / New Jersey / Delaware	13	126,000	Overhead line, 12 kV 25 Hz AC
Everett–Seattle–Tacoma	USA	Sounder	Washington	2	18,300	No
Greater Orlando	USA	SunRail	Florida	1	5,600	No
Mexico City	MEX	Tren Suburbano	Mexico City / Mexico	1 (2 UC)	195,000 (2017)[7]	Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC
Dallas–Fort Worth	USA	Trinity Railway Express	Texas	1	6,800	No
Greater Miami	USA	Tri-Rail	Florida	2	13,900	No
Washington, D.C.	USA	Virginia Railway Express	Virginia / District of Columbia	2	16,800	No
Nashville	USA	WeGo Star	Tennessee	1	1,100	No
Vancouver	CAN	West Coast Express	British Columbia	1	9,900	No
Portland	USA	WES Commuter Rail	Oregon	1	1,600	No

There are several commuter rail systems currently under construction or in development in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Metropolitan Area	Country	Province/State	System	Official site	Other sites
Aguascalientes	MEX	Aguascalientes	Tren Suburbano (no official name yet)		[8][9]
Guadalajara	MEX	Jalisco	Tren Suburbano		[10][11]
Monterrey	MEX	Nuevo León	Tren Suburbano de Monterrey	[12]	[13]
Alameda County / San Joaquin County	USA	California	Valley Link	[14]	[15]
Anchorage	USA	Alaska	Alaska Railroad (existing long-distance railroad, proposed commuter service)	[16][17][18]	[19]
Charlotte	USA	North Carolina	Lynx Red Line	[20]
Dallas	USA	Texas	DART Silver Line	[21]
Detroit	USA	Michigan	SEMCOG Commuter Rail	[22][23][24]
Durham	USA	North Carolina	GoTriangle commuter rail (no official name)	[25]	[26]
Fort Worth	USA	Texas	Burleson commuter rail		[27]
Houston	USA	Texas	Southwest Rail Corridor	[28][29]
Iowa City	USA	Iowa	Pop-Up Metro (opening 2025)		[30][31][32][33][34]
Jacksonville	USA	Florida	First Coast Commuter Rail	[35]
Miami-Dade	USA	Florida	Northeast Corridor Rapid Transit Project
Milwaukee	USA	Wisconsin	Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Commuter Rail		[36][37]
Minneapolis	USA	Minnesota	Dan Patch Corridor	[38]
Oklahoma City	USA	Oklahoma	Oklahoma City commuter rail		[39]
Phoenix	USA	Arizona	Arizona Passenger Rail Corridor Study
San Diego	USA	California	SANDAG Transit Leap	[40]
San Luis Obispo	USA	California	Coast Rail Corridor Study	[41]
Santa Cruz	USA	California	Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Railroad	[42]

The following systems have ceased operations since the formation of Amtrak in 1971.

• CalTrain, Oxnard to Los Angeles (1982–1983)
• Champlain Flyer, Burlington, Vermont (2000–2003)
• Cleveland commuter rail, former Erie Lackawanna, later Conrail, service between Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio (until 1977)
• Cannonball between Milwaukee and Watertown, Wisconsin (until 1972)^[43]
• OnTrack, Syracuse, New York (1994–2007)
• Parkway Limited, Pittsburgh, PA (1981)
• PATrain, Pittsburgh, PA (1979–1989)
• Calumet, Penn Central, later Conrail service between Chicago and Valparaiso, Indiana (until 1979 when service was conveyed to Amtrak, operated until 1991)^[44]
• Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad service from Pittsburgh to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania (until 1985)^[45]
• Detroit, Michigan
  • Penn Central, Michigan Executive between Detroit and Ann Arbor (until 1975 when service was commuted to Amtrak, operated until 1984)
  • SEMTA (1974–1983)
• City rail, La Ceiba, Honduras (until 2006)
• FENADESAL service from San Salvador to Soyapango and Apopa, El Salvador (?–2000, 2004–2005, 2007–2013)