Light rail in the United States

From the mid-19th century onwards, horse-drawn trams (or horsecars) were used in cities around the world. The St. Charles Avenue Line of the New Orleans streetcar system is the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world, beginning operation as a horse-drawn system in 1835.^[2]

In the late 1880s, electrically powered street railways became technically feasible with the invention of a trolley pole system of collecting current. American inventor Frank J. Sprague installed the first successful electrified trolley system in Richmond, Virginia, in 1888. 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.^[3]

The streetcar systems constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries typically ran single-car setups. Some rail lines experimented with multiple-unit configurations, joining streetcars to make short trains, but this did not become common until later. 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.

Historically, the rail gauge has had considerable variations, with a variety of gauges common in many early systems (e.g. the broad Pennsylvania trolley gauge, etc. used by New Orleans' streetcars and by the light rail systems in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh). However, most modern second-generation light rail systems now operate on standard gauge rail.^[4]

After World War II, six major cities in the United States (Boston, Newark, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco) continued to operate large first-generation streetcar systems, although most of them were later converted to modern light rail standards.^[5] Toronto in Canada marks the other city in North America with a continuing first-generation streetcar system. Additionally, a seventh American city, Cleveland, maintained an interurban system (e.g. the Blue and Green Lines) equivalent to what is now "light rail", that opened before World War I, and which is still in operation to this day.^[5]

When several of these cities upgraded to new technology (e.g. San Francisco, Newark, and Pittsburgh), they called it "light rail" to differentiate it from their existing streetcar systems since some continued to operate portions of both the old and new systems.

In the United States, most of the original first-generation streetcar systems were decommissioned from the 1950s onward through approximately 1970 as the usage of the automobile increased through government policy.

Although a few traditional streetcar or trolley 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. After World War II, the Germans retained their streetcar (Straßenbahn) networks and evolved them into model light rail systems (Stadtbahn).^[4]

The renaissance of light rail in the United States began in 1981, when the first truly second-generation light rail system was inaugurated in the United States, the San Diego Trolley in California, which adopted use of the German Siemens-Duewag U2 light rail vehicle. (This was just three years after the first North American second-generation light rail system opened in the Canadian city of Edmonton, Alberta in 1978, and which used the same German Siemens-Duewag U2 vehicles as San Diego).^[5] Other North American cities, particularly on the West Coast, began planning their own light rail systems in the 1980s.^[6]

As of March 2020^[update], there are a total of 53 operational light rail-type lines and systems (noting that some cities, such as Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle, have more than one light rail system) that offer regular year-round transit service in the United States: 26 modern light rail systems,^[7] 14 modern streetcar systems, and 13 heritage streetcar systems (including the San Francisco cable car system).

First-generation systems are typically remaining lines of sprawling streetcar systems decommissioned between the 1950s and about 1970. These lines were generally preserved because of their high ridership and some exclusive right of way.^[5] Many have been at least partly upgraded to more closely resemble the more modern second-generation light rail systems.

Inspired by the German Stadtbahn (English: city rail) systems,^[4] the second generation of modern light rail systems generally have large multi-car trains that travel larger distances, make fewer stops, and run at least partly on exclusive rights-of-way.^[11][12] The first was the San Diego Trolley, which opened in 1981.

Modern streetcar systems generally have smaller single-car trains that travel on short routes with frequent stops in lanes that are shared with automobile traffic (street running). The first was the Portland Streetcar, which opened in 2001. Some are heritage streetcar lines, which run vintage or historic-replica vehicles.

Hybrid rail systems, first introduced to the United States in 2004 with New Jersey's River Line, use passenger trains that operate on the national rail network with vehicles that do not meet Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Tier I crashworthiness standards. These services typically employ lightweight diesel multiple unit (DMUs) and run on tracks that may also carry freight, with freight train operations usually scheduled outside passenger hours. Unlike conventional commuter rail, hybrid rail provides all-day, seven-day-a-week service, though generally at longer headways than urban light rail.^[77]

The following table lists entirely new light rail, streetcar, or hybrid rail systems under construction.^[86] Systems that are in the planning stages but not yet under construction (e.g. Glassboro–Camden Line, Interborough Express, and the Austin CapMetro Rail Project Connect system), are not listed; expansions of existing systems are also not listed here.