Light rail in North America

Light rail is a commonly used mode of public transit in North America. The term light rail was coined in 1972 by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA; the precursor to the U.S. Federal Transit Administration) to describe new streetcar transformations which were taking place in Europe and the United States. The Germans used the term Stadtbahn, which is the predecessor to North American light rail, to describe the concept, and many in UMTA wanted to adopt the direct translation, which is city rail. However, in its reports, UMTA finally adopted the term light rail instead.Gregory L. Thompson (2003), Defining an Alternative Future: Birth of the Light Rail Movement in North America, Transportation Research Board, http://trb.org/publications/circulars/ec058/03_01_Thompson.pdf

History of streetcars and light rail

From the mid-19th century onwards, horse-drawn trams or horsecars were used in cities around the world. In the late 1880s electrically powered street railways became technically feasible following the invention of a trolley pole system of collecting current by American inventor Frank J. Sprague who installed the first successful system at Richmond, Virginia. They became popular because roads were then poorly surfaced, and before the invention of the internal combustion engine and the advent of motor-buses, they were the only practical means of public transport around cities.

The streetcar systems constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries typically only ran in single-car setups. Some rail lines experimented with multiple unit configurations, where streetcars were joined together to make short trains. When lines were built over longer distances (typically with a single track) before good roads were common, they were generally called interurban streetcars or radial railways in North America.

After World War II, seven major North American cities (Boston, Newark, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Toronto) continued to operate large streetcar systems. Some of these cities called their modernized systems light rail in an attempt to differentiate it from their existing streetcars particularly cities that continued to operate both the old and new systems. Cleveland, Ohio, maintained an interurban system (e.g. the Blue and Green Lines) that is equivalent to what is now "light rail", which opened before World War I, and which is still in operation to this day.

In North America, many of these original streetcar systems were decommissioned in the 1950s and onward as the usage of the automobile increased. Although some traditional trolley or tram systems still exist to this day, the term "light rail" has come to mean a different type of rail system. Modern light rail technology has primarily German origins, since an attempt by Boeing Vertol to introduce a new American light rail vehicle was a technical failure.

The renaissance of light rail in North American began in 1978 when the Canadian city of Edmonton, Alberta adopted the German Siemens-Duewag U2 system, followed three years later by Calgary, Alberta and San Diego, California.

Historically, the rail gauge has had considerable variations, with narrow gauge common in many early systems. However, most light rail systems are now standard gauge. An important advantage of standard gauge is that standard railway maintenance equipment can be used on it, rather than custom-built machinery. Using standard gauge also allows light rail vehicles to be delivered and relocated conveniently using freight railways and locomotives. Additionally, more manufacturers are able to produce standard gauge vehicles, reducing costs for rolling stock acquisition. Another factor favoring standard gauge is that low-floor vehicles are becoming popular, and there is generally insufficient space for wheelchairs to move between the wheels in a narrow gauge layout.

The use of a proof-of-payment fare collection system is standard practice on modern North American light rail systems, as it reduces the dwell time at stations by allowing passengers to board and alight at all doorways of a light rail vehicle (LRV) or train.

Hybrid rail (diesel light rail)

A few systems in North America use diesel multiple units, including: O-Train lines 2 and 4 in Ottawa (opened in 2001 and 2025 respectively); the River Line in New Jersey (opened in 2004); Sprinter in northern San Diego County, California (opened in 2008); and eBART in eastern Contra Costa County, California (opened in 2018). Hybrid rail operations are chosen in corridors where lower ridership is expected (and thus do not justify the expense of the electric power infrastructure) or which have an "interurban" nature with stations spaced relatively far apart (electric power provides greater acceleration, making it essential for operations with closely spaced stations). Operations with diesel-powered trains can be an interim measure until ridership growth and the availability of funding allow the system to be upgraded to electric power operations.

Ridership on light rail in North America

The following table lists the fifteen light rail systems in North America with the highest riderships in 2024:

City/metro area served Country Light rail system Annual ridership (2024) 1 Guadalajara Mexico SITEUR 168,605,000 2 Calgary Canada CTrain 94,097,200 3 Toronto Canada Toronto streetcar system 79,295,000 4 Los Angeles United States Los Angeles Metro Rail 46,178,300 5 San Diego United States San Diego Trolley 41,069,900 6 Boston United States Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 30,631,700 7 Seattle United States Link light rail 30,438,000 8 Mexico City Mexico Xochimilco Light Rail 29,545,000 9 San Francisco United States Muni Metro 29,361,800 10 Edmonton Canada Edmonton LRT 29,145,000 11 Portland, Oregon United States MAX Light Rail 24,383,900 12 Dallas United States Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) 22,237,700 13 Jersey City, New Jersey United States NJ Transit 22,215,800 14 Ottawa Canada O-Train 20,838,300 15 Minneapolis United States METRO Light Rail 15,489,100

In general, ridership on light rail systems in Mexico and Canada tends to be higher than the corresponding ridership on light rail systems in the United States, especially on a boardings per mile basis where the Mexican systems (Guadalajara light rail system and Xochimilco Light Rail) rank first and second, and three Canadian systems (Calgary's CTrain, Edmonton LRT and Toronto's streetcars) rank third, fifth and seventh. On a boardings per mile basis, the most ridden light rail systems in the United States are again Boston's MBTA ranked sixth, followed by San Francisco's Muni Metro ranked eighth.

Light rail in Canada

Location System Year opened System length Stations Lines Latest expansion Type Calgary CTrain 1981 45 2 2014 Light rail Edmonton Edmonton LRT 1978 29 3 2023 Light rail Ottawa O-Train 2001 25 3 2025 Light rail Toronto Toronto streetcar system 1861 708 11 2016 StreetcarToronto subway (Line 5 & Line 6)20254322026Light rail Waterloo Region Ion LRT 2019 19 1 n/a Light rail

In general, Canadian cities have rates of public transit use which are two to three times as high as comparably sized U.S. cities. Census data for 2016 show that 12.4% of Canadians use public transit to commute to work, compared to 5.4% of Americans. This means that transportation planners must allow for higher passenger volumes on Canadian transit systems than American ones.

There are a number of LRT proposals in Canada, a few of which are under construction, such as Line 1 in Ottawa, Line 5 in Toronto and Ion in Waterloo Region, Ontario.

Calgary

At present, there are 45 stations in operation along the CTrain light rail system. There are four legs in the system radiating directionally out into the suburbs from the downtown core that are connected by shared tracks along a downtown transit mall. They have been organized into two CTrain lines (identified as the Red Line and the Blue Line on network maps). The legs, as built in chronological order, are the South (1981), the Northeast (1985), the Northwest (1987), and the West (2012). Route 201 (Red Line) connects the South and Northwest lines; Route 202 (Blue Line) connects the Northeast and West lines. The two routes share most of the downtown line on the 7th Avenue South transit mall; the exception is the Downtown West – Kerby station, which serves only Route 202. The planned Route 203 - Green line will add about and 28 stations to the system by connecting a North leg to a Southeast leg, probably in a tunnel underneath the existing downtown transit mall. Construction on it is expected to start in 2017.

In late 2015, Calgary Transit started running four-car trains to alleviate congestion as the system exceed 300,000 passengers per weekday. The longer trains can carry 800 passengers per train compared to 600 on three-car trains, a 33% increase. This upgrade required rebuilding or relocating all 45 station platforms to accommodate the longer trains, and buying 63 new vehicles to add another car to each train. Trains will be lengthened as more vehicles are delivered from the manufacturer.

Edmonton

Edmonton was the first city in North America to build a modern (second generation) light rail system. The route (today called the Capital Line) first started construction in 1974, and opened its first segment on April 22, 1978, in time for the 1978 Commonwealth Games. The Edmonton Transit System built much of its initial light rail system underground, which meant that it could not afford to lay as much track to the suburbs at the time of its opening. The system has grown incrementally since its opening, and had grown to a long light rail line serving a total of 15 stations. The system is successful by North American standards, with an average weekday ridership of 93,600 passengers in 2010. The City of Edmonton has focused on LRT expansion plans since 2007. The Metro Line, a branch of the existing Capital Line, opened in September 2015. The separate Valley Line, under construction , but with its first phase opened in November 2023, uses low-floor vehicles.

Ottawa

In 2001, to supplement its bus rapid transit (BRT) system, Ottawa opened a diesel light rail pilot project, the O-Train, which was relatively inexpensive to construct (), due to its single-track route along a little used freight-rail right of way and use of diesel multiple units (DMUs) to avoid the cost of building overhead lines along the tracks.

With the construction of Line 1, the O-Train brand has been extended to both rail transit services and the diesel line has been renamed as the Line 2. O-Train Line 2 is an diesel light rail line running north to south from Bayview to Limebank connecting with a transitway at each terminus. There are three passing sidings along the single-track line. Line 1 is a light rail line that runs east-west from Blair to Tunney's Pasture connecting to a transitway at each terminus and with Line 2 at Bayview. The line runs both underground and on the surface. There is a tunnel downtown with three underground stations. As of 2020, the system is in Stage 2 construction to add 24 new stations on the east and west ends of Line 1 and to add new stations between existing ones. A south expansion on Line 2 was also constructed. The Stage 2 project is set to be complete by 2027.

Toronto Most of the 11 routes of the Toronto streetcar system operate in mixed traffic, but three of them (509 Harbourfront, 510 Spadina and 512 St. Clair) as well as a portion of the 501 Queen in the median of The Queensway have similarity to light rail in that there is a high degree of separation from road traffic by using reserved lanes with some track in tunnels.

Waterloo Region