Transit 101 is an occasional series that will focus on the history and technology of modern-day public transit systems. The current topic is a primer on the various modes of rail transit.

Part I: Streetcars and Interurbans
Part II: Heavy Rail and Light Rail
Part III: Commuter Rail
Part IV: Intercity Rail and High-Speed Rail

Metra gallery coaches being pulled by a diesel locomotive (Photo: Keeleysam / Wikipedia.com)

The past two installments of the Transit 101 series have focused on transit systems that primarily operate on dedicated tracks (either on their own rights-of-way or on shared rights-of-way with street traffic) that provide frequent transit service within a metropolitan area. Commuter rail differs from these modes in a number of aspects. The American Public Transit Association defines commuter rail as follows:

Commuter Rail is a mode of transit service (also called metropolitan rail, regional rail, or suburban rail) characterized by an electric or diesel propelled railway for urban passenger train service consisting of local short distance travel operating between a central city and adjacent suburbs. Service must be operated on a regular basis by or under contract with a transit operator for the purpose of transporting passengers within urbanized areas, or between urbanized areas and outlying areas. Such rail service, using either locomotive hauled or self-propelled railroad passenger cars, is generally characterized by multi-trip tickets, specific station to station fares, railroad employment practices and usually only one or two stations in the central business district. Intercity rail service is excluded, except for that portion of such service that is operated by or under contract with a public transit agency for predominantly commuter services. Most service is provided on routes of current or former freight railroads.

A Brief History

Photo: Mike Crowe

Wikipedia has a comprehensive article about the history of rail travel in general. Precedents for rail technology date back to the Diolkos Wagonway in ancient Greece, in which wagon wheels fit into a grooved “track” in the road. The earliest true railroads in Europe date to the Middle Ages, in which vehicles were manually pushed along wooden rails. In the late 1700′s, iron was used to plate the wooden rails. By the mid-1800′s, the iron-plated wood rails began to be superseded by rails made entirely of iron and then steel.

Rail transportation, which so far had been reliant on manual labor provided by humans or animals, experienced a revolution in 1804 when the first steam-powered locomotive was demonstrated by Richard Trevithick in Merthyr Tydfil, United Kingdom. Despite some initial technical difficulties, the advent of the passenger railroad helped spur the Industrial Revolution in the UK and around the world, and permanently changed the way people lived and traveled. Prior to the development of the railroad, most people commuted only as far as they were willing to travel by foot or on horseback, and generally spent their lives near their place of birth. The railroad made it possible, for the first time in history, for large numbers of people to travel vast distances at speeds that had previously been unheard-of.

In the United States, the railroads made it possible for the young nation to rapidly expand to the west, and contributed directly to the growth of many major American cities. Chicago is the nation’s greatest example of railroad-fueled urban growth, as the city’s strategic location on a low subcontinental divide between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds made it the nation’s largest inland transportation hub. In the mid 1800′s, Chicago was a motley collection of log cabins in a swamp on the edge of Lake Michigan. By the 1890′s, Chicago was considered likely to surpass New York City as the nation’s largest. (New York at this time consisted only of Manhattan and parts of the Bronx; some historians argue that the rise of Chicago and its threat to New York’s dominance led directly to their decision to annex Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island to form the five boroughs in 1898.)

Throughout the country and beyond, intercity railroads soon began offering “commuter” service to nearby towns and cities. Communities grew up along the commuter rail lines and become America’s first bedroom suburbs, allowing workers to work in the city center but live in a more “rural” location with its real and perceived benefits. Many of these railroad suburbs now exist as wealthy communities with their own downtown business districts centered around the commuter rail station; examples include Highland Park and Lake Forest outside of Chicago, White Plains outside of New York, and Berwyn outside of Philadelphia.

Cincinnati had its own commuter rail lines serving the suburbs and nearby cities. In 1933, many of them consolidated their downtown terminals at Cincinnati Union Terminal, but by the late 1930′s, highway construction and the rise of the automobile was already taking its toll. Passenger rail service in Cincinnati declined throughout the 1940′s and 1950′s. Cincinnati retains some intercity rail service in the form of Amtrak’s Cardinal, but commuter rail has been long extinct. In addition to Union Terminal, former railroad depots in Glendale and Silverton are among the only present-day reminders of its existence.

Union Terminal, prior to the demolition of the concourse. (Photo: Jack Klumpe / The Cincinnati Post)

Elsewhere in the country, commuter rail systems in major cities saw ownership and operation transferred from mainline railroads to public mass transit agencies. The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), the nation’s oldest railroad still operating under its original name and charter, is now a division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The commuter lines of the former New York Central Railroad are now another MTA division, the Metro-North Railroad. In Philadelphia, the commuter lines once operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Railroad now fall under the umbrella of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). Chicago’s commuter rail lines, with the exception of the South Shore Line, are now operated by Metra.

In more recent years, some cities have launched new commuter rail systems. These systems range from a single line, such as Portland’s West Side Express Service, to a comprehensive system such as Metrolink in Los Angeles.

Here in Cincinnati, the 2002 Metro Moves plan proposed commuter rail service from Union Terminal to Lawrenceburg, Hamilton, and Milford. A modified version of the Milford line now forms a portion of the Eastern Corridor, but as of this writing, progress remains stalled amid questions of its route and mode of service.

Characteristics of Commuter Rail

As opposed to the other modes of rail travel we have discussed so far, commuter trains fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Railroad Administration, and often operate on the same tracks used by mainline passenger and freight trains. Commuter rail lines may be operated by a public transit agency, or a contract carrier such as Amtrak or other railroad such as Union Pacific. (As a side note, some rapid transit systems also operate under FRA jurisdiction because of track connections to mainline railroads or other factors. Examples include the PATH system, the Staten Island Railway, and the NJ Transit River Line. However, these are rare exceptions.)

Aside from FRA jurisdiction, a number of factors make commuter rail distinct from other modes of rail transit we have discussed so far:

Frequency of Service: Whereas streetcar and rapid transit service (either light rail or heavy rail) generally operate based on headways, or number of trains per hour, commuter rail generally operates on a fixed schedule that is published on a timetable. For example, a passenger can head into a subway station and, depending on the system and the time of day, generally wait anywhere from three to fifteen minutes for a train at most. Commuter trains may be scheduled every hour or more, necessitating the passenger to consult the schedule and make an effort to be at the station in time for the 6:35 train, for example.

A portion of the timetable for Metra's Union Pacific North Line

Long Island Railroad electric multiple-unit train (Photo: Adam Moreira / Wikimedia Commons)

Some commuter rail lines in the Northeast have service frequencies that approach that of a rapid transit line, but these generally occur where multiple rail lines share a single trunk line before branching to their respective destinations. Examples of this type of frequent service include the Long Island Rail Road between Penn Station and Jamaica Station in New York, and along the Center City Commuter Connection, a tunnel through downtown Philadelphia opened in 1984 to connect the two major divisions of that city’s commuter rail system.

Rolling Stock: As with other forms of rail transit, rolling stock varies widely depending on the particular system. In the New York City region, Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road operate electric multiple-unit (EMU) trains using a third rail power supply, making them essentially larger versions of subway trains. SEPTA in Philadelphia runs EMU trains under overhead catenary, while NJ Transit covers the gamut from EMUs to passenger coaches pulled by electric or diesel locomotives. Most commuter trains outside the Northeast consist of passenger coaches hauled by diesel locomotives.

The Chicago and North Western Railroad pioneered the concept of push-pull operation, in which the locomotive is controlled from a cab car at the opposite end of the train. In pull mode, the train is simply pulled by the locomotive. In push mode, the train operates “backwards”, being pushed from behind by the locomotive, which is controlled from the cab car at the “rear” of the train. This eliminated the need for complicated switching maneuvers at the downtown terminal.

The interior of a bilevel coach on NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor Line

The Chicago and North Western also was one of the first railroads to develop the gallery car, which features multiple levels of seating. Today, commuter railroads may use single-level railcars (particularly where vertical tunnel clearances may be a limiting factor), gallery cars, or bilevel cars. Innovations such as push-pull operation and bilevel railcars have spread throughout the world and are now considered standard practice.

Lengths of commuter trains can very widely, ranging from the single-car Princeton Dinky shuttle train to trains consisting of a dozen or more passenger cars plus one or more locomotives.

On-Board Amenities: Commuter trains typically feature improved passenger amenities compared to light rail or heavy rail transit. These amenities include more comfortable seating, luggage racks, and on-board washroom facilities. Other amenities such as wifi access and power outlets for laptop computers may be found. Consumption of alcohol is also permitted on many commuter rail systems, and Metro-North’s New Haven Line even has a bar car. For over a hundred years, the Long Island Rail Road has been operating the Cannonball, a premium express train between New York City and the Hamptons that features in-seat beverage and snack service during the summer months.

Service Patterns: As opposed to rapid transit service, which generally passes through the central business district of a city en route from one terminal to another, commuter trains usually begin in the suburbs and terminate downtown. A notable exception to this characterization is the SEPTA Regional Rail system in Philadelphia, in which trains usually run from one suburban terminal to another via a downtown tunnel built in 1984. A train beginning its trip at Chestnut Hill East may continue on to Elwyn via 30th Street Station, Suburban Station, and Market East Station in downtown Philadelphia.

Market East Station in downtown Philadelphia

Fares and Fare Collection: As a general rule, fares on rapid transit systems tend to be a flat fare, paid upon entering the station. (Some rapid transit systems, notably the Washington Metro, employ a zone-based fare system more akin to that of a commuter railroad.) Commuter railroad fares are distance-based, with destinations usually grouped into fare zones. Shorter trips require lower fares, and vice-versa. There may also be a surcharge for travel in the peak-direction during rush hours. Tickets are typically purchased in the station from an agent or via a vending machine, and collected on board by the train crew. Whereas a subway train may be operated by one or two crew members, a commuter train is operated by an engineer, a conductor, and up to several assistant conductors depending on the passenger load.

Distances Traveled: Distances of typical commuter rail lines range from only a few miles in the case of SEPTA’s Chestnut Hill West line, to up to almost a hundred miles in the case of the South Shore Line and LIRR’s services to eastern Long Island.

The following video shows the ride on SEPTA’s R7 Trenton line between the North Philadelphia and 30th Street Stations:

Aside from the now-stalled Eastern Corridor project, there are currently no active proposals for commuter rail in the Greater Cincinnati region. The most likely destinations for commuter rail service in Cincinnati include Lawrenceburg, Milford, Hamilton, and Dayton. Other nearby cities such as Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville, and Lexington are at the upper end of feasible distances for commuter rail travel, but may see future connections to Cincinnati via intercity rail and high-speed rail, which we will discuss in the next and final installment of this series.

Transit 101 is an occasional series that will focus on the history and technology of modern-day public transit systems. The current topic is a primer on the various modes of rail transit.

Part I: Streetcars and Interurbans
Part II: Heavy Rail and Light Rail
Part III: Commuter Rail
Part IV: Intercity Rail and High-Speed Rail

In the first installment of this series, we explored the history and technology of streetcars and interurbans, modes of rail transit that are characterized by relatively light passenger capacities that often travel on city streets shared with pedestrians and other vehicles. While streetcars are ideal as neighborhood circulators and as feeders into other modes of transit, their relatively slow speeds and limited passenger capacity make them less suited for carrying large numbers of people over greater distances within a metropolitan area. For such purposes, longer trains operating on dedicated rights-of-way are used. Such a form of rail travel falls into two broad categories known as light rail and heavy rail, which we will discuss here.

First, some comments about terminology: The terms “light” rail and “heavy” rail do not refer to the rail gauge or the physical weight of the vehicles, but rather to their respective passenger capacity. (Light rail vehicles may actually have a heavier per-axle weight than so-called heavy rail vehicles.) The term “light rail” was coined in 1972 by the Urban Mass Transit Administration (now Federal Transit Administration) to describe a form a rail travel that has a lighter passenger capacity than traditional subway trains. Although the “light rail” term is relatively new, we will find that modern-day light rail transit shares a few notable characteristics with the old interurbans of yore.

The American Public Transit Association defines light rail and heavy rail respectively as follows:

Light Rail is a mode of transit service (also called streetcar, tramway, or trolley) operating passenger rail cars singly (or in short, usually two-car or three-car, trains) on fixed rails in right-of-way that is often separated from other traffic for part or much of the way. Light rail vehicles are typically driven electrically with power being drawn from an overhead electric line via a trolley or a pantograph; driven by an operator on board the vehicle; and may have either high platform loading or low level boarding using steps.

Heavy Rail is a mode of transit service (also called metro, subway, rapid transit, or rapid rail) operating on an electric railway with the capacity for a heavy volume of traffic. It is characterized by high speed and rapid acceleration passenger rail cars operating singly or in multi-car trains on fixed rails; separate rights-of-way from which all other vehicular and foot traffic are excluded; sophisticated signaling, and high platform loading.

(In the United Kingdom, “heavy rail” refers to mainline commuter and intercity trains, which we will explore in future installments of the Transit 101 series.)

It is important to note that these terms are merely broad categories, and there is generally no hard-and-fast rule that makes a firm distinction between light rail and heavy rail. There are a number of rail transit systems throughout the US and the world that adopt a hybrid approach, incorporating certain characteristics of each.

Early Rapid Transit History

The concept of grade-separated rapid transit first arose in London in the mid 1800′s, as a means to connect the city’s multiple railroad terminals to each other and to the central core of the city. The first segment of what would become the London Underground opened in 1863, with the first electrified section beginning operation in 1890. The system has been steadily expanded ever since, incorporating shallow subways built via cut-and-cover as well as deep-bore “Tube” lines, eventually becoming one of the most extensive and well-patronized rapid transit systems in the world.

Electrification played a major role in the spread of rapid transit, particularly in the form of underground subways. London’s first Underground line originally used steam locomotives, but the resulting smoke in the confined space of the tunnels proved dangerous and uncomfortable. Several solutions, including cable cars and pneumatic systems, were attempted, but electric traction technology ultimately proved successful. This allowed electrical power to be generated off-site, and transmitted to the train’s traction motors via third rail or overhead catenary. In 1897, Frank J. Sprague invented multiple-unit train control for use on Chicago’s South Side Elevated Railway, which allowed multiple railcars to be fitted with motors, all controlled from a single motorman’s cab. This eliminated the need for locomotive-hauled trains in rapid transit service.

Rapid transit technology quickly spread around the world. The first subway in the United States, part of what is now the Green Line in Boston, opened in 1897 to separate streetcars from surface traffic, and now operates as a modern light rail system. Although the tunnels are no longer used by heavy rail subway trains, the Main Line Elevated (now the Orange Line) used the tunnels beginning in 1901. (The modern-day Orange Line now runs in its own dedicated tunnels through downtown Boston.)

Photo: Peter Dougherty / nycsubway.org

America’s most famous and extensive subway system began as the Interboro Rapid Transit (IRT) Subway in 1904, designed and built by William Barclay Parsons, who founded the firm that would become Parsons-Brinckerhoff, a multinational engineering and construction management firm with projects all over the world, including the Cincinnati Streetcar. The New York City Subway has since been expanded to to include over 229 route miles, 842 track miles, 468 stations, and now serves over five million riders per day.

Other American cities to build rapid transit systems during the pre-war years included Philadelphia, Chicago, and Cleveland, as well as additional lines in Boston. Here in Cincinnati, construction was begun on a rapid transit loop built to similar specifications as what is now Boston’s Red Line, but was abandoned in 1925.

The Post-War Years

The years following World War II saw a dramatic shift in American transportation policy in favor of the automobile, with the Cincinnati subway’s right-of-way commandeered for freeway construction, and most streetcar systems throughout the country being either severely curtailed or, more often, shut down altogether and replaced with diesel-powered buses. Those systems that survived were invariably those that at least partially operated on dedicated, underground rights-of-way where diesel buses cannot travel.

Despite the dominance of the automobile, some rapid transit systems continued to expand. Chicago’s Dearborn Street Subway, now part of the Blue Line, opened in 1951. (That subway is essentially a twin to the earlier State Street Subway, now carrying the Red Line, which opened in 1943.) In Philadelphia, the PATCO Speedline made use of existing infrastructure and new construction to form a new rapid transit line serving southern New Jersey that opened in 1969. PATCO pioneered the use of Automatic Train Operation (ATO), which would become an important component of modern rapid transit systems that would be built in the following years.

The first comprehensive system to the planned and built during the post-war era was the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) system serving the San Francisco area. By the time of its inception, the word “subway” had come to conjure up images of filthy, graffiti-covered trains, rampant crime, and dimly-lit stations. BART sought to re-define the idea of public transit in the popular imagination, featuring sleek, fast trains and modern stations. BART’s first segment opened to passenger service in 1972, with its Market Street Subway also featuring tunnels for MUNI light rail vehicles.

This re-envisioning of rapid transit soon took a major leap forward in the nation’s capitol, with the first segment of the Washington Metro beginning operations in 1976. Over the following three decades, Metro has been expanded to include 106 route miles and 86 stations, with further expansions underway. Metro is now the nation’s second-busiest rapid transit system after the New York City subway, serving over 800,000 riders per day. As a result of Metro’s construction, the Washington, DC area now enjoys the nation’s second-highest transit ridership per capita, despite being smaller in size than several other American cities. (Elsewhere in North America, rapid transit systems in Mexico City, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver have higher ridership figures per capita.) The Washington Metro is notable for a number of innovations, particularly its use of distinctive architecture as part of its branding and identity, with most of its stations featuring a consistent design by Harry Weese Associates of Chicago. Metro is also known for its zero-tolerance policies against litter and vandalism, making it one of the cleanest rapid transit systems in the country.

Photo: Ben Schumin / wikipedia.org

In 1979, Atlanta’s MARTA began rapid transit service with rolling stock similar to that of the Washington Metro. The MARTA system now consists of 48 track miles and 38 stations, serving almost 260,000 riders per day. Several expansion proposals are currently under study.

Smaller heavy rail metro systems have been built as single lines in Baltimore in 1983 and Miami in 1984. Both systems are built to the same technical specifications, allowing them to reduce capital costs by combining their order for rolling stock.

The most recent heavy rail rapid transit system to be built “from scratch” in the United States is the Red Line in Los Angeles, opened in 1993. The Red Line and the newer Purple Line currently serve 155,000 daily riders at 14 stations, with plans for future expansion currently underway. Expansions of existing heavy rail systems currently under construction include the 7 Line Extension and Second Avenue Subway in New York, and the Dulles Airport extension on the Washington Metro.

The Advent of Light Rail

Photo: Krische Construction

Despite the success of post-war metro systems such as BART and the Washington Metro, recent decades have seen scarce federal funding for large-scale transit projects, forcing cities to develop alternate approaches to public transit. The term “light rail” was coined by the Urban Mass Transit Administration in 1972 to describe rail service with lighter capacity than traditional metro systems, operating mostly on surface routes and sometimes in shared street traffic, avoiding the high costs associated with subway construction.

Although the term “light rail” only dates to 1972 and is generally considered a new development in mass transit, several older streetcar systems in the United States now operate as modern light rail systems, including the Green Line in Boston, the MUNI system in San Francisco, and the Subway-Surface Trolleys and Norristown Line in Philadelphia. Light rail may be thought of as the successor to the interurban, which traveled on surface streets within urban areas but usually traveled on their own rights-of-way outside the city.

Photo: Siemens

The earliest modern light rail system in the United States was the San Diego Trolley, which opened in 1981. Technically not a trolley, the San Diego system served as the model for light rail development throughout the country nonetheless. Light Rail in San Diego now consists of three lines totaling 51 miles, serving 53 stations.

Light rail has become the fashionable choice for medium-sized cities seeking the benefits of rail-based mass transit, with over 30 cities in North America operating light rail systems. Los Angeles and Baltimore make extensive use of light rail to compliment their heavy rail metro and commuter rail systems, while Portland, Denver, and Dallas operate substantial stand-alone systems. Recent new-start light rail systems include Charlotte, Houston, Phoenix, and Seattle. Here in the Midwest, St. Louis and Pittsburgh both operate light rail systems that run in subways through their respective downtown business districts.

Recent regional rail plans for Greater Cincinnati, most notably the 2002 Metro Moves plan, have proposed light rail service for the area, including the conversion of the abandoned subway tunnels to light rail use.

Heavy Rail and Light Rail Compared

The following chart summarizes some key differences between the two modes:

(Sources: WMATA 7000-series rolling stock procurement documents, Siemens S70 data sheet, and the Transit Technologies Worksheet at reconnectingamerica.org)

Note that these are generalities; rail transit systems come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, and there are a number of American systems that incorporate features of each. For example, the Chicago ‘L’ often runs two-car trains that carry fewer passengers than a Siemens S70 light rail vehicle on Portland’s MAX system, and construction costs of Seattle’s new Central Link tunnel were comparable those of heavy rail subway construction.

This amateur video shows a Washington Metro Red Line train arriving and departing at Union Station in 1996:

This video shows various scenes from Portland’s MAX light rail system:

Heavy rail obviously offers significant advantages over light rail in terms of speed and passenger capacity, but those advantages come at a high cost. We will explore this dilemma in future articles, particularly as it relates to the future of transit in the Greater Cincinnati region.

In the meantime, stay tuned for the next installment of Transit 101, in which we will make the jump from transit to railroads, and explore commuter rail.

Transit 101 is an occasional series that will focus on the history and technology of modern-day public transit systems. To start the series off, we will focus on the various modes of rail transit:

Part I: Streetcars and Interurbans
Part II: Heavy Rail and Light Rail
Part III: Commuter Rail
Part IV: Intercity Rail and High-Speed Rail

Welcome to Transit 101. In this first article of the series, we will explore the history and technical aspects of one of the most basic forms of rail transit, the streetcar and interurban, and by the end of the series, we will have worked our way up to high-speed trains that can traverse hundreds of miles in a matter of minutes.

A Brief History

Streetcar technology actually began with that most American form of transit in the 19th Century, the stage coach, or omnibus: a passenger coach pulled by a team of horses. Operators soon discovered that, with the decreased friction provided by metal wheels running on metal rails embedded in the streets, the same number of horses could pull a far greater number of passengers. In time, horses were replaced with electric motors powered by overhead wires.

In most cases, electrical power was provided by a single overhead wire, with the ground return carried through the running rails in the street. Cincinnati’s original streetcar system was unique in that it operated on two overhead wires, one for the electrical supply and the other for the ground return.

Photo: subwaysigns.com

A “trolley” at the end of the long metal pole was the contact point between the vehicle and the electrical supply, which slid along the wire and provided power to the vehicle’s motors. This is how streetcars became known as trolleys, although the pantograph — a spring-loaded metal bar — eventually became the standard for conducting electricity from the catenary to the vehicle’s motors. Thus, every trolley is a form of a streetcar, but not every streetcar is a true trolley. The word “trolley”  being used in a derisive manner by streetcar opponents belies an ignorance about the historical origins of the term.

The first streetcar line in the United States was the Fourth Avenue Line in New York City, which was operated by the New York and Harlem Railroad (now MTA Metro-North) along Fourth Avenue and the Bowery. Over time, streetcars became the dominant mode of public transit in most American cities, including Cincinnati, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Most streetcar systems operated with two crew members per car: a motorman to drive the vehicle, and a conductor to collect fares (usually in the form of cash or a token). The vast majority of streetcar lines ran in shared traffic on city streets, although there were exceptions. In Fort Thomas, the Green Line streetcar ran on a dedicated right-of-way along what is now Memorial Parkway before reaching the bedroom suburb’s central business district. In Boston, a streetcar tunnel through Back Bay and downtown was built in 1897, separating streetcars from surface traffic and creating America’s first subway line.

In some cases, streetcars acted as modes of transit between cities, running on city streets within the urban area but running on their own rights-of-way through rural areas. These lines became known as interurbans, with the rolling stock often times built larger than typical streetcars, with amenities for intercity travel such as more comfortable seats and on-board lavatories. The oldest surviving interurban line in the United States is the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad, now operating as a commuter railroad, and the concept of the interurban has been somewhat revived and re-branded as “light rail” in recent years. We will explore commuter rail and light rail in future installments of this series.

Photo: M. J. Scanlon

In 1929, the Electric Railway Presidents’ Conference Committee commissioned the design of a modern, standardized streetcar they hoped would fend off competition from buses and the automobile. The so-called PCC streetcar featured a number of improvements in ride quality over the previous generations of streetcars, and became an icon of 1930′s industrial design. Many PCC streetcars are still in service today throughout the world.

The development of the PCC streetcar proved to be inadequate to stop the forces conspiring to kill streetcar service in most American cities during the post-war era, though. The federal government explicitly favored highway construction and suburban development over public transit, while a front company known as National City Lines served as a means for General Motors, Firestone, and Standard Oil to buy up streetcar lines throughout the United States, dismantle them, and replace the streetcars with buses built by GM.

In Cincinnati, the last streetcar line ceased operation on April 29, 1951. The last Green Line streetcars in Northern Kentucky had been replaced by buses years earlier.

Modern-Day Streetcars

Although most North American streetcar systems didn’t survive past the 1950′s, there are a few notable exceptions. Toronto, Ontario still maintains and operates eleven streetcar routes. Boston’s Green Line (with its four branches) and Mattapan-Ashmont Trolley are vestiges of the streetcar era in that city; the Green Line has been transformed into a modern-day light rail system, while the Mattapan-Ashmont line still runs PCC streetcars as an extension of the Red Line rapid transit line. Boston’s streetcars survived because they travel in tunnels downtown, where diesel-powered buses cannot operate.

Likewise, in Philadelphia, the Subway-Surface streetcar lines travel in tunnels downtown while operating on the surface as trolleys in the outer neighborhoods, while the Media, Norristown, and Sharon Hill lines operate as feeders into the Market-Frankfort rapid transit line at its 69th Street terminal.

Some streetcar lines survived as trolley bus or “trackless trolley” routes, in which buses with rubber tires are powered via overhead electrical lines. Such systems can be found in Dayton, Cambridge, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle. In Chicago, various components of the old PCC streetcars were reused for the 6000-series rapid transit cars that ran on the ‘L’ system into the 1990′s.

Some cities, notably San Francisco, Tampa, and Kenosha, operate historic “heritage” streetcar lines as tourist attractions. This is in addition to a number of transit and railway museums throughout the country that maintain and operate their own historic streetcar rosters.

In the the late 1990′s and early 2000′s, as the dire consequences of a half-century of automobile-oriented urban policy and development became apparent, planners began to question the wisdom of dismantling the nation’s streetcar systems. Portland, Oregon became the first American city to build a new streetcar line in the post-war period, using articulated low-floor vehicles similar in nature to those used on many light rail lines. The Portland streetcar has been a resounding success story, and the neighboring cities of Tacoma and Seattle have built their own modern streetcar lines.

The success of these new streetcar systems in the Pacific Northwest has sparked interest in cities across the nation, with 22 cities either building or designing new streetcar lines. Among Midwestern cities, Cincinnati is at the forefront of this movement, with most funding now in place and construction expected to begin on our own streetcar line this fall.

Characteristics of the Modern Streetcar

Modern streetcar systems, such as the Portland streetcar and the streetcar system proposed for Cincinnati, use modern light rail vehicles that are 8′-6″ wide and about 60 feet long, with a passenger capacity of 150-200 people per car. The center two-thirds of the vehicles have a low floor that is even with the platform height, enabling easy boarding by passengers with disabilities. The cars are powered via a single 750V DC overhead wire, which is designed to blend in with the urban context in an unobtrusive manner.

On older streetcar systems, fares were paid in the form of cash or a token, and collected on board the vehicle by the motorman or a conductor. On modern systems, fare collection is usually via a proof-of-payment system in which a ticket is purchased and validated before boarding the vehicle. The ticket allows unlimited travel within a certain time period, with enforcement taking place through the use of random spot checks. Portland’s streetcar and light rail systems feature a “Fareless Square” within the downtown core, in which all rides are free.

Unlike other forms of rail transit, streetcars generally operate in mixed traffic, sharing the right-of-way with automobiles, buses, and bicycles. The physical infrastructure for the streetcar is minimal, consisting of the track, power supply, maintenance facilities, and the stations. The stations themselves are usually little more than raised curbs with shelters and ticket vending machines. The following video highlights the Portland streetcar system:

The streetcar, since it operates in shared traffic at relatively slow speeds, is convenient as a neighborhood circulator within a compact urban area, but less effective for regional travel. For longer-distance travel at higher speeds, a dedicated right-of-way and larger vehicles are required. Such rapid transit systems fall into two broad categories, heavy rail and light rail, which we will explore in the next installment of this series.

Update: Due to an extended power outage on Monday and other time commitments, the schedule for the Transit 101 series has been revised. Part II of the series is tentatively scheduled for next Monday, August 23rd, with additional installments appearing each Monday through September 6th.