Canada and USA Systems Master Thread

[Duke87]

List of potential systems (Black=not yet drafted (not in HB), Brown = legacy drafted, not yet cleaned up (preview), Orange = clean draft (preview), Blue = fully reviewed, ready to activate when site goes live (held preview for now), Green = active).

Tier 1 Systems
canvia - VIA Rail
usaamtk - Amtrak
usaarr - Alaska Railroad


Tier 2 Systems (commuter railroads)
canexo - EXO Commuter Rail
cango - GO Transit (si404)
canwce - West Coast Express (Compdude787)
usambtx - MBTA Commuter Rail
usacndx - CTRail
usamncr - Metro-North
usalirr - Long Island Rail Road
usanjtr - NJ Transit Rail
usasepa - SEPTA Regional Rail
usamarc - MARC Train
usavre - Virginia Railway Express
usacfr - SunRail (si404)
usatrcx - Tri-Rail (si404)
usablfx - Brightline (si404)
usametx - Metra Commuter Rail
usanicd - South Shore Liine
usamnrx - Northstar Line (froggie)
usatre - Trinity Railway Express
usacmr - Capital MetroRail
usartdx - RTD Commuter Rail (the_spui_ninja)
usautax - UTA Frontrunner (the_spui_ninja)
usanmrx - New Mexico Rail Runner (the_spui_ninja)
usasdrx - Sounder Commuter Rail (Compdude787)
usawes - WES Commuter Rail (Bickendan)
usajpbx - CalTrain (cl94)
usaace - Altamont Corridor Express (cl94)
usasmart - Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (cl94)
usascax - L.A. Metrolink
usanctc - San Diego NCTD Commuter Rail

Tier 2 Systems (tourist/heritage railroads)
usatr - US Tourist and Heritage Railroads


Tier 3 Systems
canstm - Montreal Metro
canttc - Toronto Subway
canmvrd - Vancouver SkyTrain (Compdude787)
usambta - MBTA Subway
usanycs - New York City Subway
usapath - Port Authority Trans-Hudson Railroad
usasir - Staten Island Railway
usasepta - SEPTA Rapid Transit
usapatco - PATCO High Speed Line
usabmsl - Baltimore Metro SubwayLink
usawmat - Washington Metro
usamarta - MARTA Rail
usawdw - Walt Disney World Monorail (si404)
usamdt - Miami-Dade Metrorail
usarta - Cleveland RTA Heavy Rail
usacta - Chicago "L"
usalvm - Las Vegas Monorail (cl94)
usabart - Bay Area Rapid Transit (cl94)
usalams - L.A. Metro Subway
usahart - Honolulu Skyline

Tier 4 Systems
canrem - Montreal Réseau Express Métropolitain
canot - Ottawa O-Train
canttclr - TTC Light Rail (under construction, not open yet)
canct - Calgary CTrain
canets - Edmonton Light Rail
usambtlr - MBTA Light Rail
usahblr - Hudson-Bergen Light Rail
usanlr - Newark Light Rail
usarivl - River LINE
usaseplr - SEPTA Trollies
usablrl - Baltimore Light RailLink
usadcsc - DC Streetcar
usatide - The Tide
usalynx - Charlotte LYNX
usanfta - Buffalo Metro Rail
usapitlr - Pittsburgh Light Rail (The T)
usartalr - Cleveland RTA Light Rail
usamtlr - Minnesota METRO Transit (Light Rail)
usabsda - St Louis MetroLink (neroute2)
usadart - DART Light Rail
usadcta - DCTA A-Train
usamtahc - Houston Metro
usautat - UTA Trax Light Rail (the_spui_ninja)
usartdz - RTD Light Rail (the_spui_ninja)
usavmr - Phoenix Valley Metro Rail
usast - Sound Transit Light Rail (Compdude787)
usamax - Portland MAX (Bickendan)
usamuni - San Francisco MUNI (cl94)
usavta - VTA Light Rail (cl94)
usasrt - Sacramento RT Light Rail (cl94)
usalamlr - L.A. Metro Light Rail
usamts - San Diego Trolley
usaebart - Eastern Contra Costa Country BART extension (eBART)  (cl94)

Tier 5 Systems (not exhaustive list)
canair - Canada Landside Airport People Movers (si404) (only Toronto YYZ has one)
cantsc - Toronto Streetcars (si404)
usaair - US Landside Airport People Movers
usaairtrn - AirTrain - moved to usaair
usarooist - Roosevelt Island Tramway
usaatl - ATL SkyTrain - moved to usaair
usajta - Jacksonville Skyway (si404)
usahart - TECO Line Streetcar, Tampa (si404)
usamiam - MIA Mover - moved to usaair
usammm - Miami Metromover
usair - US Incline Railroads
usawvuprt - Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit
usahunhts - Huntsville Hospital Tram System
usadpm - Detroit People Mover
usaql - Q-Line Streetcar
usamata - Memphis Trolley (neroute2)
usakcsc - Kansas City Streetcar (the_spui_ninja)
usadsc - Dallas Streetcars
usaelpsc - El Paso Streetcar
usaokcs - Oklahoma City Streetcar
usautas - UTA S-Line (the_spui_ninja)
usaae - Aria Express - moved to usalvct
usambt - Mandalay Bay Tram - moved to usalvct
usamti - Mirage-Treasure Island Tram - moved to usalvct
usapvm - Primm Valley Monorail (no longer in service)
usatsc - Tempe Streetcar
usaphx - PHX SkyTrain
usascm - Seattle Center Monorail (Compdude787)
usassc - Seattle Streetcars (Compdude787)
usapsc - Portland Streetcar (Bickendan)
usawst - Willamette Shore Trolley (Bickendan)
usasfcc - San Francisco Cable Cars (cl94)
usalvct - Las Vegas Casino Trams (cl94)

[neroute2]

Other Florida (non-airport) systems I'm aware of:

Tier 2
Brightline (Tier 1?)
SunRail

Tier 5
Disney Skyliner (like the monorail, it's open to the public and connects public areas of hotels and park entrances)


Also, do we want to include the Capitol Subway in DC? It seems to be open to the public as long as you have legitimate business in the building complex. Earlier this year I was part of a group talking to congresspeople and I was able to see the platforms (but didn't ride because we were time-limited).

[Duke87]

as long as you have legitimate business in the building complex.

This right here is an access restriction. And not a trivial one either - I couldn't begin to think of what "legitimate business" I might ever have there. So I'm voting hard no.


I keep forgetting Brightline, SunRail, and Tri-Rail are distinct things so thanks for the reminder I'll add the former two to the list.


Disney Skyliner gives me indigestion on account of it's an aerial tramway and thus not a railroad. Yes I know the Roosevelt Island Tramway is already in there. I don't really think it belongs either but am not going to delete it without consensus in favor.

[Duke87]

While I'm here I'd also like to propose merging Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and Newark Light Rail into one system, NJ Transit Light Rail. Seeing as the two share a common owner, common ticketing practices, and even the same rolling stock. Any objections?

[Bickendan]

Tier 2: TriMet WES [Westside Express Service] (usawes?)
Heritage -- Mt Hood Railroad (usamth?)
Tillamook Railroad (usatil?)
Tier 4: Portland MAX -> TriMet MAX [Metropolitan Area Express]
Tier 5: Portland Streetcar (usapdxsc?)
Portland OHSU Aerial Tram (usaohsu?)
Willamette Shore Trolley (usawil?)

[Duke87]

{snip}

Added except for the aerial tram since that's an outstanding issue. Probably should make a dedicated thread for it.

Regarding the system abbreviations and names, a few things I might as well document:
- commuter rail systems generally use the railroad's official reporting mark (e.g. TRCX is Tri-Rail, hence usatrcx)
- urban transit systems tend to use the abbreviation for the agency that runs it if a simple one is available, but with extra added to disambiguate if there are multiple systems with the same owner (e.g. usarta and usartalr, the heavy and light rail services, respectively, of the Rapid Transit Authority in Cleveland)
- unless another obvious abbreviation is available streetcars are often the first letter(s) of the city name + sc
- if a system specifically serves a particular airport that airport's IATA code gets used (e.g. usaatl for the ATL SkyTrain), and on the flipside I would avoid using the airport code if airport is not involved in order to avoid confusion (so no "pdx" unless it's something serving Portland International Airport)

Ultimately though this is going to be less formulaic than it is for roads, so there will be cases where something has multiple reasonable possibilities. In which case the important thing is to pick one and use it consistently.

[cl94]

The Primm Valley Monorail is no longer operating; should we still map that?

[Duke87]

The Primm Valley Monorail is no longer operating; should we still map that?

Was wondering about that. If it's no longer in service then no. Noted accordingly but not removed from list in case anyone asks or in case it's ever reactivated.

[the_spui_ninja]

SD Tourist Railroads:
1880 Train (Black Hills Central Railroad): https://www.1880train.com/
Prairie Village, Herman, and Milwaukee Railroad: https://www.prairievillage.org/railroad/

Other Railroads
UTA FrontRunner: https://www.rideuta.com/Services/FrontRunner (Tier 2)

Will add the Colorado tourist railroads in another post.

[the_spui_ninja]

Montana Tourist Railroads:
Alder Gulch Shortline Railroad: https://virginiacitymt.com/Experience-The-Old-West/Train-Rides-and-Schedule
Charlie Russell Chew Choo (do dinner railroads count?): https://montanadinnertrain.com/

[the_spui_ninja]

Colorado Tourist Railroads:
Cripple Creek Railroad: https://cripplecreekrailroad.com/
Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad: https://cumbrestoltec.com/ (also in NM)
Durango and Silverton Narrow-Gauge Railroad: https://www.durangotrain.com/
Fort Collins Trolley: https://www.fortcollinstrolley.org/
Georgetown Loop Railroad: https://www.georgetownlooprr.com/
Pikes Peak Cog Railway: https://www.cograilway.com/
Denver Trolley: http://www.denvertrolley.org/
Royal Gorge Route Railroad: https://www.royalgorgeroute.com/
Royal Gorge Incline (might be closed, was open in 2011 when I went on it)
Leadville Railroad: https://www.leadville-train.com/

[the_spui_ninja]

Utah Tourist Railroads
Wild Kingdom Train (should zoo railroads be included?): http://www.lagoonpark.com/ride/wild-kingdom-train/
Heber Valley Railroad: https://www.hebervalleyrr.org/

[froggie]

Technically, Metro Transit in Minnesota has a Tier 2 line:  the Northstar line is a legit commuter rail line.  Not sure how to handle this, but I'm happy to cover Minnesota.

[Duke87]

Technically, Metro Transit in Minnesota has a Tier 2 line:  the Northstar line is a legit commuter rail line.  Not sure how to handle this, but I'm happy to cover Minnesota.

So, that's a tier 2 system separate from the tier 4 light rail system then.

Since no one else has claimed it, it's yours.

[compdude787]

I'd be interested in drafting the systems in the Seattle area. One question I have is, why is the Seattle Center Monorail listed as tier 5? I think that because the monorail trains have similar capacity to Las Vegas' (or Disney World's) monorail cars and because they're integrated into the regional transit system (ORCA cards are accepted on the monorail), it should be at tier 3 like the other two I mentioned.

Also, I might be interested in creating the Vancouver Skytrain. Vancouver also has a commuter rail line called the West Coast Express.