Heavy Rail Transit

Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas:

Rapid transit

A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid acceleration. It uses passenger railcars operating singly or in multiple unit trains on fixed rails. It operates on separate rights-of-way from which all other vehicular and foot traffic are excluded (i.e. is fully grade-separated from other traffic). It uses sophisticated signaling systems, and high platform loading.

Originally, the term '' rapid transit'' was used in the 1800s to describe new forms of quick urban public transportation that had a right-of-way separated from street traffic. This set rapid transit apart from horsecars, trams, streetcars, omnibuses, and other forms of public transport. A variant of the term, ''mass rapid transit (MRT)'', is also used for metro systems in Southeast Asia and Taiwan.

Though the term was almost always used to describe rail transportation, other forms of transit were sometimes described by their proponents as rapid transit, including local ferries in some cases.

The term ''bus rapid transit'' has recently come into use to describe bus lines with features to speed their operation. These usually have more characteristics of light rail than rapid transit.

Metro/subway

Metros, short for metropolitan railways, are defined by the International Association of Public Transport (L'Union Internationale des Transports Publics, or UITP) as urban guided transport systems "operated on their own right of way and segregated from general road and pedestrian traffic. They are consequently designed for operations in tunnel, viaducts or on surface level but with physical separation in such a way that inadvertent access is not possible. In different parts of the world, Metro systems are also known in English as the underground, the subway or the tube. Rail systems with specific construction issues operating on a segregated guideway (e.g. monorail, rack railways) are also treated as Metros as long as they are designated as part of the urban public transport network." Metropolitan railways are used for high capacity public transportation. They can operate in trains of up to 10 cars, carrying 1800 passengers or more. Some metro systems run on rubber tires but are based on the same fixed-guideway principles as steel wheel systems.

Paris, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Warsaw, Saint Petersburg, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Moscow all have metro (from the word metropolitan where "metro" means "mother" and "politan" means "city") systems which are called metro in French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Dutch, and Russian.

Subway used in a transit sense refers to a rapid transit heavy rail system that goes underground. The term may refer only to the underground parts of the system, or to the full system. ''Subway'' is most commonly used in the United States and the English-speaking parts of Canada, though the term is also used elsewhere, such as to describe the Glasgow Subway in Scotland, and in translation of system names or descriptions in some Asian and Latin American cities.

In some cities where ''subway'' is used, it refers to the entire system; in others, only to the portions that actually are underground. Naming practices often select one type of placement in a system where several are used; there are many ''subways'' with above-ground components, and on the other hand, the Vancouver SkyTrain and Chicago "L" include underground sections. Historic posters referred to Chicago's Red & Blue lines (then called the State Street & Milwaukee/Dearborn lines) as "the subway lines".

Light metro

Medium-capacity system (MCS), also known as light rapid transit or light metro, is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than typical heavy-rail rapid transit.

Sub-surface subway

Some light rail / street car lines that have underground sections that are referred to as subway are often sub surface subways. Notably, Boston's Green Line and the Newark City Subway, each about half underground, originated from fully surface streetcar lines. Also, the Buffalo Metro Rail is referred to as "the subway", while it uses light rail equipment and operates in a pedestrian mall downtown for half of its route and underground for the remaining section. Sometimes the term is qualified, such as in Philadelphia, where trolleys operate in an actual subway for part of their route and on city streets for the remainder. This is locally styled '' subway-surface''.

When the Boston subway was originally built, the ''subway'' label was only used for sections into which streetcars (trams) operated, and the rapid transit sections were called ''tunnels''. Also, in some countries, ''subway'' refers to systems built under roads and the informal term ''tube'' is used for the deep-underground tunnelled systems (such as London's Piccadilly line) – in this usage, somewhat technical nowadays and not used much in London, ''underground'' is regardless the general term for both types of system.

Other Definitions of Subway

Bus subways are uncommon but do exist, though in these cases the non-underground portions of route are not called subways. Until March 2019, Seattle, Washington had a bus subway downtown in which diesel-electric hybrid buses and light rail trains operated in a shared tunnel. The hybrid buses ran in electrical-only mode while traveling through the tunnel and overhead wires power the light rail trains which continue to operate in the tunnel. Bus subways are sometimes built to provide an exclusive right-of-way for bus rapid transit lines, such as the MBTA Silver Line in Boston.

''Subway'', outside the US, and especially in Europe, often refers to an underground pedestrian passageway linking large road interconnections that are often too difficult or dangerous to cross at ground level. In Canada, the term ''subway'' may be used in either sense.

Underground and tube

The usage of '' underground'' is very similar to that of subway, describing an underground train system.

In London the colloquial term ''tube'' now refers to the London Underground, and is the most common word used for the underground system; and it is used by Transport for London the local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system throughout Greater London. However, strictly speaking, it should only refer to those deep lines which run in bored circular tunnels as opposed to those constructed near to the surface by 'cut-and-cover' methods. The Glasgow metro system is known as the Glasgow Subway or colloquial as "the subway". The word ''metro'' is not usually used in London or Glasgow to refer to those cities' metros, but it is used in and around Newcastle upon Tyne to refer to the Tyne and Wear Metro.

Overground

In the UK, the term ''overground'' was created in 2007 by Transport for London to refer to a mainly above-ground suburban rail network serving Greater London, the London Overground, which took over Silverlink Metro routes. (via archive.org).

Confusingly, the term ''overground'' is also used to refer to National Rail networks within London generally, or any non-London Underground rail service in everyday speech

U-Bahn and S-Bahn

The term ''metro'' is not usually used to describe metro systems in German-speaking areas (Germany, Austria and parts of Switzerland), instead using the term '' U-Bahn''—a shortening of ''Untergrundbahn'', meaning "underground railway"—and S-Bahn—an abbreviation for the German "''Stadtschnellbahn''" or just "''Schnellbahn''" (fast city train, fast train) the more common English translation, suburban train. So for example in Berlin, the mostly underground system is known as the Berlin U-Bahn and it is integrated with the mostly above-ground system, known as the Berlin S-Bahn. The Frankfurt U-Bahn is an important exception, the system being really a light rail transit system with underground sections.

Hamburg S-Bahn fulfills all criteria for heavy rail inside the state and city of Hamburg, but some lines go beyond the state border into the state of Niedersachsen and there the S-Bahn runs with lower train frequency.

The same applies also to the S-Bahn and U-Bahn in Copenhagen, Denmark, with the only exception that the word "Metro" is used instead of "U-Bahn", and "S-tog" instead of "S-Bahn". (The Danish word "S-tog" applies to the trains (''tog''), rather than the tracks as in Germany; "S-tog" means "S-train".) Otherwise, the S-Bahn of Berlin and the S-tog of Copenhagen are very similar with the exception of the size.

In Switzerland, where there is only one underground railway system in Lausanne, the term metro is generally used, due to the influence from the French language.

In Sweden, the metro of Stockholm is called "Tunnelbana" or "T-bana" which refers to the fact that the trains often run in tunnels. The same applies to Norway and the "T-bane" of Oslo.

Elevated and overhead

''Elevated'' is a shorthand for elevated railway, a railway built on supports over other rights of way, generally city streets. The term ''overhead'' tends to be used in Europe. The names of elevated railways are sometimes further abbreviate it to El or L. Some examples include:

*Chicago "L" The best known elevated transit system in the United States.
* Vancouver SkyTrain An automated rapid transit system that is mostly elevated.
*New York City Subway A combination of the old IRT and BMT rapid transit systems that had built or leased numerous elevated lines throughout the entire city. New York "El's" are the oldest ones in the United States, dating from 1869. Today, the majority of "El" lines in New York are in Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx. Most "El's" in Manhattan were torn down in the 1940s and 1950s, some replaced by subways.
* Liverpool Overhead Railway This was the United Kingdom's only true elevated railway, although the London and Greenwich Railway of 1836 was constructed on a brick viaduct for the greater part of its length.
* SEPTA's Market–Frankford Line is elevated except for the portion running through Center City and University City, and is sometimes referred to as the "El".
*The Manila LRT Line 1 in Manila, Philippines, is an elevated railway, made operational in 1984 and the country's first urban rail transit since Manila tram service ended in 1944, during the Japanese occupation of the city.
*The BTS Skytrain is an elevated rapid transit system in Bangkok, Thailand, which was officially opened on 5 December 1999 by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. It now consists of 34 stations and 2 lines.
* Sydney Metro Monorail was an elevated monorail through the CBD of Sydney from the bicentenary in 1988 until its dismantlement in 2013.

Heavy rail

The term ''heavy rail'' has different meanings in different parts of the world.

Europe

Austria, Germany, Switzerland

The German complementary term is '' Vollbahn'' and the opposite '' Kleinbahn''. These terms were defined to distinguish different axle loads and connected construction rules. Today the term ''Vollbahn'' is not common and ''Kleinbahn'' is used for narrow-gauge lines.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, ''heavy rail'' refers to conventional railways forming part of the national network, including commuter, intercity, high-speed rail, regional rail and freight services, as distinct from metro, light rail and tram lines, people movers, and similar.

North America

In North America, the American Public Transportation Association defines a heavy-rail system as an electric railway with the capacity to handle a heavy volume of traffic. The term is often used to distinguish it from light rail systems, which usually handle a smaller volume of passengers.

In North America, ''heavy rail'' can also refer to rapid transit, when referring to systems with heavier passenger loadings than light rail systems, but distinct from commuter rail and intercity rail systems. It is characterized by high-speed, passenger rail cars running in separate rights-of-way from which all other vehicular and foot traffic are excluded.

Such passenger rail cars are almost always electrically driven, with power either drawn from an overhead line or an electrified third rail.

Asia

In the Philippines, the North–South Commuter Railway has been described by Philippine National Railways general manager Junn Magno as a ''heavy rail metro'' line. Although the use of ''heavy rail'' also refers to rapid transit as with American parlance, it is characterized as electrified passenger rail services that use 8- or 10-car trains.

International

''Heavy rail'' term according International Union of Railways (UIC) refers to both freight rail and passenger rail (commuter, regional, intercity and high-speed) other than large-capacity metro.

At-grade urban rail transit

Tram, streetcar, trolley

The terms ''tram'', ''streetcar'', and ''trolley'' refer to most forms of common carrier rail transit that run entirely or partly on streets, providing a local service and picking up and discharging passengers at any street corner, unless otherwise marked. While tram or ''tramway'' are widely used worldwide, the term used varies in different dialects of English, with ''streetcar'' and ''trolley'' most commonly used in North America (''streetcar'' being more common in the western and central part of the continent and ''trolley'' in the eastern part), while ''tram'' predominates in Europe and elsewhere.

Tram is a British word, cognate with the Low German , and the Dutch , meaning the "shafts of a wheelbarrow". From this the term "tram" was used in the coal mines of Scotland and Northern England for a coal cart running on rails, and by extension to any similar system of trackway.

Streetcar is an American word derived from "street" + "car", where "car" is used in the sense of a vehicle running on rails, i.e. railway car. The first American streetcars, introduced around 1830, were horsecars, and this type of streetcar became ubiquitous because very few of the streets in American cities were paved. Mechanical versions, pulled by cables, were introduced around 1870. Electric streetcars were introduced in the 1880s and soon replaced the horse-drawn streetcar in cities across the United States.

Trolley is an American word derived from the electric current pickup mechanism in early systems. The first successful electric streetcars in the United States used a system devised by Frank J. Sprague, in which a spring-loaded trolley pole pushed a small trolley wheel up against an overhead wire to collect electricity for the motors. Although not the first overhead collection system, it was far more reliable than its predecessors, and eventually became used by almost all streetcars. Some authorities believe that the vehicle became known as a ''trolley car'' because it reminded people (particularly on the West Coast) of a boat trolling for fish. Others believe it derived from a dialect word for a wheeled cart.

In the U.S. the word ''tram'' frequently refers to a special-purpose bus used as a shuttle (and often not designed for use on public roads), such as for parking lot shuttles at theme parks and major events or transportation within theme parks. Other common North American English meanings of the term ''tram'' include aerial cable cars and short-distance, rubber-tired people-movers (such as at certain airports). Tourist buses that have been given the appearance of a vintage streetcar (i.e. trolley-replica buses) are most commonly referred to, ambiguously, simply as ''trolleys'' by the companies or entities operating them or selling them, but may be referred to as trams or streetcars.

Historical systems

Specific terms for some historically important tram technologies include '' horsecar'', '' heritage streetcar'', and ''cable car''.

Heritage streetcar (also known as heritage trolley or vintage trolley) is an American term for streetcar systems that use vehicles that were built before 1960, or modern replicas of such vehicles.

Cable car is an American word for a passenger rail vehicle attached to a moving cable located below the street surface and powered by engines or motors at a central location, not on board the vehicle. There are cable cars operating in numerous cities, such as San Francisco.

Light railway

A ''light railway'' is a British English term referring to a railway built at lower costs and to lower standards than typical "heavy rail". These lighter standards allow lower costs of operation at the price of slower operating speeds and lower vehicle capacity. They were permitted under the Light Railways Act 1896 and intended to bring railways to rural areas. The London Docklands Light Railway, has more rapid transit style features than would be typical of ''light rail'' systems, but fits within the U.K. ''light railway'' definition.

Light rail

A light rail transit (LRT) system is an urban rail transit system with a "light" passenger capacity compared to heavy rail and metro systems. Its operating characteristics are that it uses railcars, called light rail vehicles (LRVs), operating singly or in short multiple unit trains on fixed rails in a right-of-way that is not necessarily grade-separated from other traffic for much of the way. Light rail vehicles are almost always electrically driven, with power usually being drawn from an overhead line rather than an electrified third rail, though a few exceptional systems use diesel multiple units (DMUs) instead as a cheaper alternative to an electrically driven light rail system.

The phrase '' light rail'' was coined in the 1970s during the re-emergence of streetcars/ trams with more modern technology. It was devised in 1972 by the U.S. Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA; the precursor to the Federal Transit Administration) to describe new streetcar transformations which were taking place, and was a translation of the German word Stadtbahn. However, instead of the literal translation of ''city rail'', UMTA used ''light rail'' instead. In general, it refers to streetcar/tram systems with rapid transit-style features. It is named to distinguish it from ''heavy rail'', which refers to rapid transit systems as well as heavier regional rail/ intercity rail.

A few systems such as people movers and personal rapid transit could be considered as even "lighter", at least in terms of how many passengers are moved per vehicle and the speed at which they travel. Monorails are a separate technology.

Light rail systems can typically handle steeper inclines than heavy rail, and curves sharp enough to fit within street intersections. They are typically built in urban areas, providing frequent service with multiple-unit trains or single cars.

The most difficult distinction to draw is that between light rail and streetcar/ tram systems. There is a significant amount of overlap between the technologies, and it is common to classify streetcars/trams as a su