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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ส.ค. 2024
- For many light rails or trams they may act like a subway or a metro once they hit downtown portions of their cities. Some of them have more metro elements than light rail!
So are these systems subway, metro, light rail or trams? Or a combination? What other systems are out there that are cool looking, that remind you a lot of trams but are underground.
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Please comment if you have opinions or facts to share about the video or transit in general! Its a learning process for all of us and I enjoy being educated on what in the end we all love: transportation - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
Germany is basically the country of underground trams. We call them "Stadtbahn" (which translates to City rail). Because although you already covered three German systems, there are many more (Hannover, Essen/Mülheim, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Stuttgart, Bielefeld, Bochum, Bonn. And Karlsruhe will join the club by the end of the year)
Honestly, if you would have just covered German cities, you would actually have a Top 10.
Fun fact: Many Stadtbahn systems use the letter "U" as their logo, like the German metro services ("U" comes from "U-Bahn", which means underground railway), although they often feature a "Stadtbahn" caption to distinguish them from their metro counterparts.
Interestingly, Portland's one underground stop is the deepest on the continent
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I think DART should have been add to the list. Once it leave downtown area it top speed is 65mph.
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I think you could have made a complete Top 10 with the German "Stadtbahn" systems. To name some more cities: Düsseldorf, Essen, Bielefeld, Bonn, Stuttgart, Hannover, etc.
You sound like you admire everything German...
@@bganonimouse2754 Well...I live in one of those cities and I know that these systems work quite well. So I'm not unhappy with that
@@bganonimouse2754
This concept originated in Germany, which is why so many large systems are there.
San Francisco also has a Stadtbahn like light rail, not many underground stations, but the same kind of trains. Biggest difference, the overground stops are low floor, but first door is the platform high.
@Nastro Adhesivo Obviously you dont read much if such an innocuous comment triggers you
Stuttgart is missing. I would rate it as member of Top 10.
indeed, that's my go to when I want to watch some cab view videos, i love the layout of their network.
It's a pretty interesting system. They finished transitioning from 1000 mm gauge to standard gauge a few years back. And they also have a 1000 mm cog railroad operated as a tram between Marienplatz and Degerloch.... and also a cable car between Südheimer Platz and Waldfriedhof.
Totally agree, Stuttgart has a very interesting system. As mentioned, you've got the zahnradbahn (cog rail tram) on Line 10, or Zacke (Spike) as it's known locally, and the funicular which I believe is line 20. Also, while much of downtown has been put underground (and there are split level platforms dating back to before they converted to 1000mm and still ran their old trams underground), there are sections that share the road with street traffic in some places. Also, because Stuttgart sits in a valley the Stadtbahn goes in and out of many tunnels with lots of stops being located underground in various parts of the city. Then you also have the whole Stuttgart 21 infrastructure project going on, but that's another whole story!
There's also Karlsruhe which I believe is close to putting a whole section underground downtown, but then you have the Albtalbahn which feeds into it and other lines that go way outside the city and share track with German Railways, and the trams/light rail have to run on a dual electrical system
@@GuyBethell oh yes, totally forgot about Karlsruhe... that is a very interesting system as well... Also I just remember the system in Mannheim, Heidelberg and Ludwigshafen which is all interconnected. Parts of Ludwigshafen are underground...
@@GuyBethell You mention all aspects of rail in Stuttgart. My personal favorites are the steep lines from City Center to Degerloch and City Center to Ruhbank (Television Tower). Two powerlines overhead and an unbelievable accelaration. On the Degerloch branch the "Windows" from tunnel with a fantastic view down into the valley. It's really worth a visit.
Spain has some hybrid systems too.
Sevilla, Granada and Malaga, which, despite being named as Metros, are in fact tram infrastructure and vehicles with underground sections in the city centres, applying most of the Metro criteria.
Then, Alicante is a tram-train-metro mix, quite similar to the German Stadtbahn concept.
Cadiz Bay has a mixed system too, like the Stadtbahn: tram vehicles using partially the mainline, national railway network, and then running on the streets !
And Valencia is partially a former interurban tram and suburban railway network converted in either Metro and modern urban tram, depending on the lines.
Greetings!
Hello InterRegios
and in 2022 the new line M10 in valencia will be a mixt underground metro and Tram
The Buffalo Metro Rail (identified in this video as "bizarre" for running aboveground in the city center and underground outside the city center) actually makes perfect sense: in the dense Downtown, you want to sightsee out the windows and be more confident of where you are getting off. The train moves slowly here, functioning like a tram. But once we move out of the city center, the objective is speed. Commuters leave their cars at free Park-&-Ride lots at the northern end of the line and are whisked into the Downtown at 50 mph (which is possible underground, where the train is not co-mingling with cyclists, pedestrians and car traffic), blissfully shortening the commute.
In Germany, we call the Subway „U-Bahn“. But here that „U“ doesn’t only stand for underground, but also for „Unabhängig“ -> Independent. So here everything is considered Subway / U-Bahn that goes independent from road traffic. This emerged from the fact, that the early systems (Berlin + Hamburg) had / still have many elevated sections on their networks, so why differentiate between elevated and underground? This approach makes it really easy to differentiate :)
They started as "Hochbahn". In the 1930s, it was called "Hoch- und Untergrundbahn". And since the 1950s it's only called "U-Bahn".
@@Wildcard71 Yes, that is why the company operating most the metro and most bus lines in Hamburg is called Hamburger Hochbahn :) ... Until 1978 they also operated tram lines. There are also other operators in Hamburg like VHH (Verkehrsbetrieb Hamburg Holstein), KVG and Autokraft.
Very cool to see trams act like metros. In my country, The Hague tram acts like metro (under the ground and on a viaduct), light rail/train (viaducts, high speed, no railway crossings, and because RandstadRail used to be a train track), and normal tram (but also not crossing traffic too much at several places, especially the newest city RandstadRail/R-net routes)
Ik ben waarschijnlijk de enige, maar ik vind de haagse tramtunnel heel onduidelijk
Duesseldorf, Essen, Bonn, Stuttgart are missing.
Hanover as well.
Düsseldorf, Essen and Bonn are quite similar (and interconnected) to Cologne and Dortmund. Otherwise you would have to mention each town of the whole Rhein-Ruhr.
Ottawa's O-Train line 1 is pretty interesting. Despite being completely grade seperated (there aren't even any level crossings) and having multiple stations underground, they use low floor Alstom Citadis trams. Toronto's Line 5, set to open next year, has half of it as an underground subway and the other half as a tramway. It uses Flexity trams.
Having low floor trains on the O-train is the most stupid decision ever made in transit. Not enough doors, less space inside, higher running costs etc
@@nicolasblume1046 umm, they have plenty of doors… have you seen the trains? There are *plenty* of doors. And, the cost of operations is actually lower, because the trains are lighter than high-floor trains and thus use less energy to move. The infrastructure can also be constructed for less because the trains are lighter and the infrastructure doesn’t need to be built to handle super heavy trains.
@@OliversElevators Far fewer doors than a high-floor vehicle can have, and they are narrow too. Also the bogies limit capacity inside the train. If your line is fully grade separated there is zero reason to use low-floor. You can still use cheap infrastructure using high floor light rail like many of the vehicles in this video. The Calgary C-train and Edmonton LRT both have used high-floor LRTs in this country with success. Sadly their new lines are low floor though...
@@flare2000x "If your line is fully grade separated there is zero reason to use low-floor." This actually wasn't the original plan which is why they went for low floor trains. The segment currently finished (passing through the most built up areas) was always designed to be grade separated but they were expecting the later stages (the extensions to the suburbs) to be implemented as more traditional light rail with traffic crossings. That changed after a bus collided with a commuter train a few years back (at a level crossing) so the planners backed away from mixing the trains with traffic, but the low floor trains were already ordered by then. You're right about the trains being narrow but the metro like implementation of the system helps.
@@OliversElevators high floor boogies are simpler and are easier to maintain.
And High floor vehicles can be built just as light as low floor vehicles.
Philly should have been included. Five trolley lines that go into tunnels on their way to and from Center City. Almost five miles in a subway tunnel, with several miles above ground on regular city streets.
I agree. But they’ll tell you they’re not “trams,” but “streetcars.”
That said, Timosha is a big Philly booster, so he didn’t leave it out for any animus.
In Rotterdam you also have some sort of Metro Light-Rail mashup.
Except it's not a tram acting like a metro. Nowhere does it run on the street. HTM trams 3, 4 and 34 would fit this list more.
The Newark NJ light rail easily makes this list. It even used to be called a subway back in the day. Now it's the "light rail" with several underground stations in downtown.
Why does NJ only have 3 light rail lines anyway?
The New Jersey Transit Light Rail in Newark, NJ (where I live) has both under and above ground lengths.
Very useful system. Nice to take the streetcar from suburban Bloomfield to downtown Newark. Convenient interchange to PATH subway trains to Manhattan.
St. Louis' underground rail tunnel is 150 years old and was used for freight trains for 100 years.
St. Louis' Metro also includes 3 more new Subway Stations on the newest Blue Line addition. The entire system runs Right-A-Way (no street level or entry) and is fast and efficient. Probably one of the nicest LRT/Metro systems in the USA.
You have forgotten a lot in Germany:
Hannover
Stuttgart
Düsseldorf
Bielefeld
Essen
Bonn
All these cities have this kind of systems. All build in the 60 ies and 70 ies, partly in the 80ies. Have been extended in the 90ies until today.
As well as Ottawa and Toronto, those also have light rail/metro hybrid systems (the Ottawa system is in service and Toronto's is under contruction, though we do have a small streetcar tunnel in downtown Toronto)
Here in Porto (Portugal) we have a "Metro" light rail system just like that
Tyne and Wear is a proper metro IMO
Yes said the same above. It’s hardly a tram; it never was a tram. It runs either underground or dedicated track away from roads.
I think it's most similar to an S-bahn with an underground section, but with smaller trains.
@@Croz89 yes you could be right. It’s basically a full service metro train line with hybrid light rail vehicles.
agreed
Los Angeles should have been on the list. There's a large portion underground. Dallas, Portland, and Seattle also have a huge underground portion. You should make a part 2!
Don't forget Philadelphia and Edmonton.
@@losh330 he did Philadelphia in this cideo
Love these videos. To me, the Tyne & Wear and the Frankfurt U-Bahn are the most metro-like. I don’t even consider T&W a light rail! Boston, on the other hand, operates like a true streetcar even in the tunnels, with all the twists and turns. The Buffalo system is by far the wackiest system in the US, but it’s wacky characteristics are what make it so interesting! The rigid-bodied cars also make it very metro-like.
Plenty of other systems like these, such as Stuttgart, Edmonton, and Newark. You should definitely make a part 2!
There's also the SEPTA subway-surface trolley lines (10, 11, 13, 34, and 36) that all share 8 underground stations in Philadelphia!!
You are awesome to be doing this video and I predict Seattle may also be on there as it is almost entirely grade separated using full length trains and operating in train only tunnels for the core section
about the buses
Volgograd underground tram
Newcastle is a light Metro.
I’d swap it out for Philadelphia and the Subway-Surface Lines.
Now it’s time for another “guess what i am” game
Trams in Krakow are running on three sections: underground (tunnel under main railway station), on-ground (almost entire tram system) and overground (bridges over Vistula and one bridge over Krakow Plaszow station).
I love that light rail metro of Newcastle. Reminds me of the old metro in Rotterdam (M in front, out of service for 6 years now) and the old light rail in Utrecht (out of service for 12 months now)
My favourite feature of Koln's Stadtbahn is the way it interworks with the neighbouring Bonn network crossing Koln and Bonn City Centres underground and being a true light rail with signposted station between Rodenkirchen and Bonn
There's also a second line a bit further west which is also operated under normal railroad rules and regulations and which also connects Cologne and Bonn. It's line 18. The other fun fact is that freight trains are operated on these lines regularly. The network in Bonn also connects to Siegburg and Bad Honnef.
@@matthiasendler7268 Railway in European English 😉 I didn't realise about the freight trains but Germany basically invented the tram-train and track sharing which needs to be exploited more in the world.
@@nixcails I stayed too long in North America back in the mid-1990s, so please excuse my English ;) :) ... Well the freight trains are full blown freight trains and it's a big network serving the industries and the ports along the river Rhine. These lines were operated by KBE back up until the 1980s which was a full blown railway. After KBE finished their passenger services, the KVB, SWB and the SSB took over the passenger operations with their light rail stock and the freight services were continued by HGK. Today HGK only owns the right of way and the freight operations are done by RheinCargo which also serves the freight operations in the ports in Neuss near Düsseldorf. I used to live in Cologne and worked in Bonn at that time, besides taking the train between Bonn Hbf and Köln Süd, I also quite often took the light rail service on line 16 (which is along the river Rhine) and line 18 (which runs a bit more west). Between Brühl and Wesseling there's a line which is connecting line 18 and 16 but there's no passenger service, this is purely for freight from and to Wesseling and the port in Godorf and also for light rail stock getting in and out of the depot in Wesseling. Hers's a video (th-cam.com/video/lxW7bT_cn7Q/w-d-xo.html) showing operations on line 18 and you see also a freight train going through on the same line :). The diesel passenger units are running on the line nearby which runs from Cologne to Trier.
In Germany the Law only differentiates between Heavy Rail and Trams, while Light Rail is a special form of Tram with no clear Definition by the federal Government.
Cologne is a very special System, because it uses former Heavy Rail Tracks, retrofitted with a Light Rail Overhead Line, as a result the drivers need to have 2 Licenses. Karsruhe took this even one step further and made Trams with can use DC Overhead Line and AC Overhead Line and special Wheels to drive on Tram Tracks an Railway Tracks.
@@futurerails8421 yes, normal railway rules are called EBA. Trams and light rail usually operate under BoStrab rules. In Cologne and Karlsruhe light rail is also operated under EBA on some sections.
There are many more, especially in Germany: Stuttgart, Hannover, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Essen, Bochum, Herne, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Bielefeld, Ludwigshafen (closed), Karlsruhe (Opening 2021), Linz (Austria), Charleroi (Belgium), Lausanne (Switzerland), Zürich (Switzerland; outside the city center) etc.
MUNI Metro has to be here. Calling it now, 6 hours and 41 minutes away from release
I'd be more shocked if it wasn't.
Don't worry, it's there.
Philadelphia's subway to surface lines are another fine example of these hybrids. In Philly it serves a specific purpose, however. The center of the city is cut off from the west by a river, and the tunnel takes the service of a few trolleys over the river. It's also super neat because they share the tunnel with the metro so at some spots there are four trains visible serving a different function.
I would add Seattle downtown, LA blue line at 7th & Flower, Philadelphia subway surface trolleys, Portland Oregon (light rail goes under a mountain), Newark NJ 7-City Subway.
Thanks for the video! Some of them I actually thought of top of my head which I had ridden are included! (SF Muni Metro, Boston Green Line, Pittsburgh T), and those German stadtbahn systems looks amazing!
Surprised that the LA Metro L Line didn't make the list.
And my favorit LRT system is Stuttgart as it covers a lot of the city´s area
The Hannover Metro is still missing. :(
"How do you define light rail vs metro / subway ... When does one become the other?"
Why do we need to define, if a network is light rail or subway?
It is important, that it works and everyone is happy with it. 😉
Buffalo is really weird, underground in the outskirts and on the streets in downtown.
Reminds me on the almost perfect (in my eyes) network.
I hoped you mentioned it, after I saw you also had Dortmund and Cologne and Frankfurt of Germany in your list.
But, as always, the city I think of, is underestimated a lot.
Long time ago, in the German city of Hanover (that is the city I talk about), there was a streetcar network above ground.
In the 60s, 70s the city decided to make is totally different to Buffalo. They moved the streetcar underground downtown and kept the other parts in the streets, however most of the rail being separated from car traffic, if possible.
The first level underground, -1, is for pedestrians, partly even an underground shopping area, but mostly as a pedestrian entrance for the stations. Level -2 sees the platforms.
In the city center there is the changing station where all line meet. this has even levels -3 for and -4 for platforms, so that it has a real metro feeling.
But the cars .. yea 100% street cars or light rail, we don't make a big difference there in German language.
And it is called "Stadtbahn" too, like in Cologne or Dortmund.
This network is my favourite, because it is ... yea, not perfect, but not far away from it.
You migth check the UrbanRail site for further information.
The "Stadtbahn" of Stuttgart is also noteworthy, I think.
But of course, you have to make a ranking and you chose your top 10 already. But if you ever travel to Germany (again, if you already have been there), don't miss the network of Hanover. It can serve as a role model for user friendly and useful underground street car / light rail systems.
Thanks for the Video
👴🏼
I agree, so many people live and die on whether something is a metro or a light rail or a commuter rail system, ultimately it doesn't matter, This is the way I see it:
If the city were to build a proper "metro" or light rail (etc) beside the old system, would it make much of a difference to customers? If the answer is no, then it doesn't matter what the original system is called it's good enough. Another way to look at it is to ask "what would I have to change with the current system to make it a metro or light rail etc. If it comes down to small things like grade separations, platform screen doors, increased service frequency or faster trains, then ultimately it doesn't matter because those things can be done to any transport system.
Really only a few things matter with transport systems, the big thing for customers is physiological, customers will prefer something that's called "metro" even if all else remains the same. There's no point arguing about whether something fits the description of the metro as long as it ticks all the customer priority boxes.
Its not much difference for the customers but for us rail system planners ;-)
Beautiful video!! I absolutely do miss Stuttgart (Germany) in this list. In a period of about 35 years they have managed to put the network underground in the city centre and they did so with other busy stretches as well. At the same time they have transformed it from a narrow gauge (1000 mm) streetcar system to a standard gauge (1435mm) light rail system, which now is even bigger than the former streetcar system.
I like Essen, Germany. You can ride in first generation London Dockland Light Railway rolling stock, converted to driver operation
You could add the Roubaix-Lille line in France which tramway has four underground stations.
on pourait meme ajouter rouen ,nice ,strasbourg....
In Boston, the E line shares the street with cars. That used to be the norm but now that's the last such line. The D train took over a commuter rail lin in the 1950s and has a dedicated route during its entire path. As an FYI, the Blue line started out as a trolley and one weekend it was converted to heavy rail.
There are actually a number of cities around the world where the light rail or streetcar systems have some underground operations. They include: Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland (one underground station), Dallas (one underground station), Philadelphia, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Brussels, Hanover, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Zurich, Vienna, Marseille (one underground station), Rouen, and Madrid.
Actually, the "E" branch of Boston's Green Line leaves a dedicated track along Huntington Ave and continues among the street traffic perhaps 2 miles further west, then south to the turn-around wye on South Huntington. Until about 30 years ago, the line continued at street level from there all the way to Forest Hills, about three and a half miles further.
2:23, nothing says both age and neglect of a mass transit station like blocking off its escalator. The PATCO Hi Speed Line in New Jersey does it a lot.
Per the blur between light rail and metro, there's Philadelphia's subway surface lines running west from City Hall, and Edmonton's LRT with its Jasper Avenue subway through downtown.
Volgograd, Russia is missed
And Krivoi Rog/
Correction to the SF portion of the video: West Portal is one of three entry points to the main tunnel. The other two are Church & Duboce and Embarcadero.
Seattle's Sound Transit fits into this category.
The transit tunnel where the metro/light rail stops together with the buses is really interesting to look at.
The last couple of times recently that I rode the Link Light Rail of Sound Transit I did not see any buses in the Seattle downtown Transit Tunnel, just the trains exclusively.
You forgot the Newark Subway! It's operated like trolleys but is completely grade separated.
Los Angeles is building a connector between it's Blue/Expo and Gold Lines (A, E and L Trains) deep underground by bored tunnel. That will link up three of its light railways into a far-flung light railway/metro. It also has its Green Line (C Train) in the median of the 105 Freeway, much like two lines of Chicago's El, and is building a new Crenshaw Line (K Train) that has considerable underground and elevated trackage.
Gothenburg Sweden. Tram system with around ten different lines that runs mostly in the street downtown and then has some tunnels outside the city.
In San Francisco, West Portal is indeed an entry point to underground. The other one is at Church and Duboce. There is also a short tunnel from Duboce to Carl+Cole.
Hannover, Germany, is missing.
Awesome video! This is starting to inspire me as well!
I like how this stuff uses names like 'deep station' and 'West Portal' like you're taking a tram to go meet Chtulhu
You missed the Monterrey Metro, which uses a sort of high-floor light rail rolling stock, and in lines 2 and 3 there are 8/38 underground stations, also the Guadalajara Urban Train's line 2 is completely underground, while line 3 has some underground stations but is considered as a heavy metro line
You’re right, I’m from Guadalajara and I always get confused because I don’t know what exactly is what we have xd, I always thought that we have a metro with tram trains
@@theomargames6330 Yeah, its weird, some people calls all three lines as "Tren Ligero", even though Line 3 is heavy Metro, just because of its rolling stock, which is substancially larger than those operating on lines 1 and 2, while line 1 is light rail and line 2 is light metro, just the same as Monterrey's metro, as they are complety grade segregated, in comparison to line 1
I love Brussels Premetro. It has an evolution idea in it name
Same with Antwerpen, but they never got the evolution:/
The evolution will never happen. If the line is so successful that it warrants an expansion to a true metro it would be impossible to close the line for a year or two to build the expansion….
@@wjekat Not true, in Brussels at least. They can build the extension while the light train line is running. They need only a few days off to make the connection and finalize the switch. This has been done twice already, in 1976 for line 1 and in 1988 for line 2. Conversion of line 3 is scheduled for about 2025.
@@liamtahaney713 Most of the Antwerps underground is not meant to be transformed in metro though, as far as I know, while Brussels premetro definitively was.
Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa are partially underground too.
Calgary's lines are all above ground (even downtown) except for a few small tunnel sections between stations. Although the new Green Line will be a downtown subway. Edmonton's does have subway stations already and always has since it was built in 1978. :-)
Toronto is building their new Eglinton Crosstown LRT to be partly underground as well, and Toronto already has an underground streetcar tunnel between Union and Queens Quay.
Great video! I would've included Sound Transit's Link Light Rail. It goes underground all the way through downtown.
For trolleys, I've always thought of "subway" when it runs underground; "light rail" when it runs, surface, in its own right-of-way & "streetcar" when it runs intermixed w/ traffic. In the case of Boston, one could also add "elevated" for the northern section (when it reopens).
The Pre-Metro lines in Brussels, which have their dedicated fleet, but also have streetcars from surface routes using part of them!
Nice video. I thought you would include the Charleroi (Belgium ) Pre-metro system: 4 lines going underground, at street level and elevated + 1 ghost line.... Moreover also in Vienna there are trams going underground
Charleroi has such a quirky system, I love it :D
Copenhagen "metro" is essentially a light rail system (like the one from Newcastle) but that markets itself as a metro
Damn, I came here expecting to see Porto Metro (where I'm from :P), but nonetheless a very informative video! Maybe a Pt. 2 some day?
At least these systems are not calling a "Bus Rapid Transport" (which is really bigger buses) as a Metro like here in Brisbane, Australia
Timosha21's question: What are your favorite tram-lightrail/metro systems?
My answer: TRAM in Alicante, because I have used it during my language trip to there in March 2018.
One interesting case is Seattle; the 3rd Avenue tunnel was originally build for dual-mode trolley buses on rubber tires that could run either as electric or with diesel power in parts of town without overhead wire. There is even a dedicated busway that runs south from downtown. When the light-rail system was built, the tunnel was revised to accommodate either trolley buses or tracked trolleys. I think there is a plan to get rid of the buses but I don't know if that has been accomplished yet.
Great video! Thanks for sharing :)
Fun fact about the system in Cologne. It connects with the system in Bonn via lines 16 and 18 and they are jointly operated by KVB (Kölner Verkehrsbetriebe), SWB (Stadtwerke Bonn) and SSB (Straßenbahn Siegburg-Bonn). Between Cologne and Bonn on the tracks of the former KBE (Köln-Bonner-Eisenbahn / Cologne-Bonn-Railway) the system is operated like a railway and also signaling and rules are the same as on the national rail network of Germany. Also regular freight trains are operated on these sections of right of way. The freight trains are owned by HGK (Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln) and are operated by RheinCargo.
Stuttgart, Germany is missing as it is a pretty big system. A few years back they finished transitioning from 1000 mm tracks to standard gauge (1435 mm). There are a few 1000 mm tracks and dual gauge rails left in order to operate historical trams. Stuttgart also operates line 10 which is operated as a cog railroad between Marienplatz and Degerloch. The cog railroad is still operated on 1000 mm tracks. As the cog railroad makes a lot of noise, it is not operated at night. At night you can use cabs between Marienplatz and Degerloch with your normal VVS ticket. When we were young, we (ab)used this system quite a bit... And there's also a cable car operated between Südheimer Platz and Waldfriedhof.
Vienna operates underground line U6 with different stock than the other lines. They have the same low floor trains like in Cologne. But this line has its own right of way and never travels on street level. It either travels underground or above street level. At station AKH Michelbeuren there is a connection to the tram system, which is used when trains need to travel to the Zentralwerkstatt (central workshop) in Simmering which is only reachable via tram system. In Vienna there's also a tunnel system with station Matzleinsdorfer Platz at its center where tram lines 1, 6, 18, 62 and WLB (Wiener Lokalbahn / interurban tram line between Vienna and Baden in Lower Austria) travel underground.
Also the system in Düsseldorf and Duisburg (which are connected) is missing. But I don't know too much about this system...
Toronto line 5 will soon be added to the mix. It uses tram vehicles and has part of the line on dedicated lanes through traffic, but also has an underground portion through the centre of town.
Minneapolis. The airport had two completely underground stations
Many lines have a complex combination of tunnels, elevated tracks, exclusive rights of way and shared rights of way, and they use a variety of rolling stock, so classifying them is not always possible.
Very interesting video. There are many other systems you could have included (mostly In Germany or neighbouring states). Interesting that both your number one (Buffalo) and your number 10 (Newcastle) are totally segregated systems which happen to use lightwieght vehicles. One additional point about Frankfurt. The U5 line has a tramway style stretch of street running where the metro trains share the road with ordinary traffic!
Vienna has also this - several tramway lines and WLB (Wiener LokalBahn - which is a true light railway for most of its track length) also run underground for a good distance inside Vienna, sharing the same tunnel
lines 1, 6, 18, 62 and WLB around Matzleinsdorfer Platz and also the terminal and loop at Schottentor for lines 43 and 44 are underground :)
I forgot to mention this: Toronto is currently building a new light rail line, called the Eglington Crosstown. Of the 25 stations, 14 will be underground and 11 will be at street level.
Awesome video. Having underground lines in downtown is a smart choice for cities.
You should have included the Kriviy Rih Metrotram. Some of its stations look just like metro stations.
Most of Germany's U-Bahn's are tram subways. Newcastle's Metro was based around getting replacement stock for the Tyneside electric railways of The LNER and better connectivity from both sides of the Tyne a sort of tram subway with small Metro cars rather than trams.
True, the only true subway systems in Germany are operated in Hamburg, Berlin, Nuremberg and Munich.
Porto, Portugal, has a light-rail/metro hybrid that also acts as a regional train! It's a tram in some areas such as Matosinhos, metro for most of its yellow line, and has a line which goes up to a entirely different city called Póvoa de Varzim, which is 40km away from Porto.
How is Philadelphia's Subway-Surface Trolley system not on this list? How many light rail systems still use single-cab trolleys and have a substantial portion operating underground? You have five lines converging in West Philly before going underground into Center City Philadelphia with four of the lines (11, 13, 34 and 36) merging at the 40th Street Portal near the University of Pennsylvania campus; the fifth (10) enters the tunnel north of Market Street.
It’s not really the underground part that defines the system, more the separation from remaining transit. The Tyne & Wear Metro in Newcastle is separated even in above ground sections and thus a proper Metro. The Dortmunder Trains run along the cars on the street in some sections (so no separation, thus no metro). In Germany we call these systems „Stadtbahn“, with Metro like sections in city centers and tram like sections outside. It’s a great third type to bridge the gap between Metro and Tram. In Germany, most systems with underground stations are actually Stadtbahnen, including Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Hannover, Cologne and many more, while only Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Nuremberg are full Metros.
Agree. Newcastle was never a tram. It was a properly built separate railway using existing rail lines in the burbs and new track under the central city (mainly but not exclusively).
Thanks for your interesting content. One tramway feature you don't focus on is the ability for passengers to embark or alight at street level, without platforms. This isn't the same as using "high" or "low" floor vehicles, as high floor vehicles can also pick up from street level by using integrated stairwells or other mechanical systems. To me, this is an important distinction as well as an interesting feature.
Dortmund is in region 4 of the VRR network, that's why most line numbers begin with 4.
one digit is for S-Bahn or similar services,
two digits are for fast service
and three digits are for local buses and trams.
There is Toronto. You should have done that city too. They have quite a few underground stops!
Glad you included Boston's Green Line- the only one of this type that I have used and I think it is great (like Boston itself!).
I had intended to try the Tyne & Wear Metro when I flew into Newcastle airport in 1997, but the factory that I was visiting in Hebburn laid on a car from the airport and back for my return flight, so unfortunately I missed the opportunity and I haven't been to Newcastle since then.
Perhaps you may include the new Stadtler trains when they are commissioned there.
Genova: the Genoa metro, the shortest in Italy by length, is a traditional metro, but uses tram vehicles (of the same type as those used on the Zurich tram network)
Interesting video! I don't know about other countries, but in Germany, there's a clear distinction between U-Bahn (underground or subway) and Straßenbahn/Stadtbahn (tramway/lightrail).
If it's completely separated and has no crossings, usually going underground or elevated, and usually having side contact lines, then it's an U-Bahn (subway).
There are only Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Nuremberg which have this. Apart from Hamburg (shame on you), all have also a tramway network.
If, outside the tunnel, it's crossing streets or going on the street, and usually having overhead contact lines, it's a tramway or lightrail.
Like Frankfurt/Main, Dusseldorf, Dortmund, Cologne, Stuttgart, Essen Hannover and others.
Fun fact: if a tramway or lightrail has an underground station, it gets the "U" sign designated for the underground.
Great! Here in Brazil, the city of Fortaleza has a LRT system in which one of the lines (Linha Sul) has some underground station and a new line under construction (Linha Leste) will feature about 7km underground. It's gonna be a really good system when it is finished, world-class with subway features!
Great video!
If you haven't done already take a look at Stuttgart, Germany. All sorts of transit, including light rail running both below and above ground, even in downtown. They also have some routes being very steep, a commuter rail network, a rack railway and a funicular. Don't forget the busses as well, they have diesel and alternative fuel as well
Guadalajara's light rail system operates as a subway too: there are currently 3 lines in operation (one of them fully underground, the other ones with mixed under/above/over stations and tracks) and it has been operative since 1989 approx. Monterrey operates a similar system but practically all their stations are well over the ground in their own elevated tracks, so it's technically a subway just in the way it has been operating.
Well, in Germany there is a concise definition of subways vs. light rails/trams, which basically boils down whether the tram has turn lights or not. Turn lights are needed if the vehicle is participating in street traffic. So with the exception of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Nuremberg all other networks are Light rails. Bochums U35 could also qualify for subways (since it is fully independant from street traffic), but it is considered a light rail. Considering law, the Wuppertal Schwebebahn is also considered a subway (just as several smaller systems).
Light rails (including the "Stadtbahn", "City rail" moniker) were initially invented for German cities which were too small to build their subway dreams. Some of them started as underground trams (Cologne, Stuttgart for example), others were built specifically for light rail operation. Subway-like cars were designed and built for these networks, most notably the B-type (like in Cologne)/U-type (Frankfurt and several US cities) and the DT8.x (concept as A-type) for Stuttgart. The M/N-series of trams were built as a pre-Stadtbahn vehicle, although some of them served on Stadtbahn lines too (then with foldig steps for high platforms). Several cities also built their own Stadtbahn vehicles (like Düsseldorf and Frankfurt) from former trams.
Budapest also has an underground tram stop on Line 2, called Fővám tér M, where it's possible to change for metro line M4.
Dallas, Texas has a light rail system which operates underground near downtown Dallas, and also on dedicated surface tracks in the downtown area, where they do not share the route with auto or bus traffic. There are also some areas outside of the downtown where the trains run on the same streets as cars, but it is only in very limited areas. I think Dallas is now the longest light rail system (or one of them)in the United States
LA has a few light rail lines that either act as streetcars, go underground like a subway, or run on aerial tracks.
The only underground station on LA’s light rail is 7th/Metro center. However with Regional connector and Crenshaw line La’s getting many more of them.
Rouen, France has some too, parts are underground, parts are at street level like a regular tram, but it's called "Metro".
Well. I am missing 2 trams from this list that can be some kind of extras as there is only one stop underground. One of these is Budapest, where tram line 2 meets the metro line 4. The other is Manchester where there is a stop under Piccadilly Station.
Metro do Porto of course!!
in Vienna the tram is even becoming an underground train several times. A train even runs through one of the tunnels…
Buffalo's line was originally called the LRRT for Light Rail Rapid Transit because it had characteristics of both light and heavy rail. In fact the original concept was for an actual heavy rail line with a downtown subway but it was changed because of Buffalo's population decline in the 70's.
The Metro do Porto, in city of Oporto, Portugal are basic the same thing in the list.
Lokalbahn Wien-Baden partly runs as tramway sectionally mixing with traffic (Wieden & Meidling), partly underground (Margareten), partly as separated light railway (Meidling-Altmannsdorf, Liesing & cross country), partly as light railway mixing with traffic (Guntramsdorf [Feldgasse]) and partly as single-track tramway (Baden).
The cars: I’m a bus, I’m a train, I’m a? Who cares! Just pay the fare and ride me! I believe that “metro” is for heavy rail rolling stock and subway is for right of way for any public transit vehicle running underground. Newark, NJ also has a light rail with the downtown stations underground and they call it “city subway”.
Bielefeld is also missing. Like in Buffalo, the Bielefeld tram mixes with regular traffic when running above ground.