# Commuter rail in North America

Commuter rail services in the United States, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica provide common carrier passenger transportation along railway tracks, with scheduled service on fixed routes on a non-reservation basis, primarily for short-distance (local) travel between a central business district and adjacent suburbs and regional travel between cities of a conurbation. It does not include rapid transit or light rail service.

## Services

Many, but not all, newer commuter railways offer service during peak times only, with trains into the central business district during morning rush hour and returning to the outer areas during the evening rush hour. This mode of operation is, in many cases, simplified by ending the train with a special passenger carriage (referred to as a cab car), which has an operating cab and can control the locomotive remotely, to avoid having to turn the train around at each end of its route. Other systems avoid the problem entirely by using bi-directional multiple units.
Other commuter rail services, many of them older, long-established ones, operate seven days a week, with service from early morning to after midnight. On these systems, patrons use the trains not just to get to and from work or school, but also for attending sporting events, concerts, theatre, and the like. Some also provide service to popular weekend getaway spots and recreation areas. The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) is the only commuter railroad that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in North America.
Almost all commuter rail services in North America are operated by government entities or quasi-governmental organizations. Most share tracks or rights-of-way used by longer-distance passenger services (e.g. Amtrak, Via Rail), freight trains, or other commuter services. The 600-mile-long (970 km) electrified Northeast Corridor in the United States is shared by commuter trains and Amtrak's Acela Express, regional, and intercity trains.
Commuter rail operators often sell reduced-price multiple-trip tickets (such as a monthly or weekly pass), charge specific station-to-station fares, and have one or two railroad stations in the central business district. Commuter trains typically connect to metro or bus services at their destination and along their route.
After the completion of SEPTA Regional Rail's Center City Commuter Connection in 1981, which allowed through-running between two formerly separate radial networks, the term "regional rail" began to be used to refer to commuter rail (and sometimes even larger heavy rail and light rail) systems that offer bidirectional all-day service and may provide useful connections between suburbs and edge cities, rather than merely transporting workers to a central business district. This is different from the European use of "regional rail", which generally refers to services midway between commuter rail and intercity rail that are not primarily commuter-oriented.
Some transit lines in the NYC metropolitan areas have commuter lines that act like a regional rail network, as lines often converge at one point and pass as a main line to the destination station. They also pass through large business areas (ie Harlem, Jamaica, Stamford, Metropark), and some lines operate every 5–10 minutes during peak hours, and roughly every 15 minutes during off hours.

## Spread

The two busiest passenger rail stations in the United States are Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central Terminal, which are both located in the Borough of Manhattan in New York City, and which serve three of the four busiest commuter railroads in the United States (the Long Island Rail Road and NJ Transit at Penn Station, and the Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road at Grand Central Terminal). The commuter railroads serving the Chicago area are Metra (the fourth-busiest commuter railroad in the United States) and the South Shore Line (one of the last surviving interurbans). Other notable commuter railroad systems include SEPTA Regional Rail (fifth-busiest in the US), serving the Philadelphia area; MBTA Commuter Rail (sixth-busiest in the US), serving the Greater Boston-Providence area; Caltrain, serving the area south of San Francisco along the peninsula as far as San Jose; and Metrolink, serving the 5-county Los Angeles area.
There are only three commuter rail agencies in Canada: GO Transit in Toronto (the fifth-busiest in North America), Exo in Montreal (eighth-busiest in North America), and West Coast Express in Vancouver. The two busiest rail stations in Canada are Union Station in Toronto and Gare Centrale in Montreal.
Commuter rail networks outside of densely populated urban areas like the Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Montreal, and Toronto metropolitan areas have historically been sparse. Since the 1990s, however, several commuter rail projects have been proposed and built throughout the United States, especially in the Sun Belt and other regions characterized by urban sprawl that have traditionally been underserved by public transportation. Since then, commuter rail networks have been inaugurated in Dallas–Fort Worth, Los Angeles, San Diego, Minneapolis, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Orlando, among other cities. Several more commuter rail projects have been proposed and are in the planning stages.

## Rolling stock

Commuter trains are either powered by diesel-electric or electric locomotives, or else use self-propelled cars (some systems, such as the New York area's Metro-North Railroad, use both). A few systems, particularly around New York City, use electric power, supplied by a third rail and/or overhead catenary wire, which provides quicker acceleration, lower noise, and fewer air-quality issues. Philadelphia's SEPTA Regional Rail uses exclusively electric power, supplied by overhead catenary wire.
Diesel-electric locomotives based on the EMD F40PH design as well as the MP36PH-3C are popular as motive power for commuter trains. Manufacturers of coaches include Bombardier, Kawasaki, Nippon Sharyo, and Hyundai Rotem. A few systems use diesel multiple unit vehicles, including WES Commuter Rail near Portland and Austin's Capital MetroRail. These systems use vehicles supplied by Stadler Rail or US Railcar (formerly Colorado Railcar).

## List of North American commuter rail operators

UC=Under construction.
| Metropolitan area(s) | Country | System | Province / State | Number of lines | Avg. weekday ridership (Q4 2018) | Avg. weekday ridership (Q3 2024) | Electrified |
| San Jose–Tri-Valley–Stockton | USA | Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) | California | 1 (2 UC) | 6,100 | 3,100 | No |
| San Francisco–San Jose | USA | Caltrain | California | 1 | 57,000 | 24,583 | Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC (partially, north of San Jose) |
| Sacramento–San Francisco Bay Area | USA | Capitol Corridor | California | 1 | 5,700 | | No |
| San Diego–Oceanside | USA | Coaster | California | 1 | 4,500 | 3,000 | No |
| San Bernardino | USA | Arrow | California | 1 | | 416 | No |
| Brunswick–Portland–Boston | USA | Downeaster | Maine / New Hampshire / Massachusetts | 1 | 1,300 | | No |
| Montreal | CAN | Exo | Quebec | 5 | 83,300 | 77,210 | No |
| Ogden–Salt Lake City–Provo | USA | FrontRunner | Utah | 1 | 19,200 | 15,000 | No |
| Toronto–Greater Golden Horseshoe | CAN | GO Transit | Ontario | 8 | 271,000 | 240,700 | Planned, likely completion in 2032. |
| New Haven / Hartford / Springfield / New London | USA | CT Rail | Connecticut / Massachusetts | 2 | | | No (Hartford Line) Overhead line, 12 kV 25 Hz AC and 25 kV 60 Hz AC (Shore Line East) |
| Havana | CUB | Havana Suburban Railway | La Habana / Artemisa / Mayabeque / Matanzas | 8 | | | No (Lines 1 to 7) Overhead line, 600 V DC (Hershey Railway) |
| Greater Metropolitan Area | CRI | Interurbano Line | San José / Alajuela / Cartago / Heredia | 3 | | | No |
| Mexico City–Toluca | MEX | El Insurgente | Mexico City / Mexico | 1 | | 10,000 | Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC |
| Harrisburg–Philadelphia–New York City | USA | Keystone Service | Pennsylvania / New York | 1 | 5,000 | | Overhead line, 12 kV 25 Hz AC |
| New York City–Long Island | USA | Long Island Rail Road | New York | 11 | 360,000 | 276,800 | Third rail, 750 V DC (only parts of the network) |
| Baltimore–Washington, D.C. | USA | MARC Train | Maryland / West Virginia / District of Columbia | 3 | 23,500 | 13,900 | No (Brunswick Line, Camden Line) Overhead line, 12 kV 25 Hz AC (Penn Line) |
| Boston / Worcester / Providence | USA | MBTA Commuter Rail | Massachusetts / Rhode Island | 12 (1 UC) | 121,600 | 109,300 | No |
| Chicago metropolitan area | USA | Metra | Illinois / Wisconsin | 11 | 277,100 | 168,600 | Overhead line, 1,500 V DC (Metra Electric District) No (Other lines) |
| Los Angeles–Southern California | USA | Metrolink | California | 8 | 37,600 | 19,200 | No |
| New York City / New Haven / Poughkeepsie | USA | Metro-North Railroad | New York / Connecticut | 8 (1 UC) | 315,700 | 235,300 | Overhead line, 12 kV 25 Hz AC Third rail, 750 V DC (only parts of the network) |
| Northern New Jersey–New York City Philadelphia–Atlantic City | USA | NJ Transit Rail Operations | New Jersey / New York / Pennsylvania | 12 (1 UC) | 238,082 (FY2017) | 172,000 | Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC Overhead line, 12 kV 25 Hz AC (only parts of the network) |
| Albuquerque–Santa Fe | USA | New Mexico Rail Runner Express | New Mexico | 1 | 2,500 | 2,800 | No |
| Minneapolis–Saint Paul | USA | Northstar Line | Minnesota | 1 | 2,600 | 500 | No |
| Panama City–Colón | PAN | Panama Canal Railway | Panamá / Colón | 1 | 1,500 (2013) | | No |
| Denver | USA | RTD Rail | Colorado | 4 | 28,700 | 29,100 | Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC |
| Santa Rosa–San Rafael | USA | Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit | California | 1 | | 3,400 | No |
| Chicago–South Bend | USA | South Shore Line | Illinois / Indiana | 1 (1 UC) | 10,900 | 6,300 | Overhead line, 1,500 V DC |
| Philadelphia | USA | SEPTA Regional Rail | Pennsylvania / New Jersey / Delaware | 13 | 126,000 | 77,700 | Overhead line, 12 kV 25 Hz AC |
| Everett–Seattle–Tacoma | USA | Sounder | Washington | 2 | 18,300 | 6,715 | No |
| Greater Orlando | USA | SunRail | Florida | 1 | 5,600 | 4,600 | No |
| Mexico City | MEX | Tren Suburbano | Mexico City / Mexico | 1 (2 UC) | 195,000 (2017) | | Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC |
| Dallas–Fort Worth | USA | Trinity Railway Express | Texas | 1 | 6,800 | 4,100 | No |
| Greater Miami | USA | Tri-Rail | Florida | 2 | 13,900 | 15,400 | No |
| Washington, D.C. | USA | Virginia Railway Express | Virginia / District of Columbia | 2 | 16,800 | 6,300 | No |
| Nashville | USA | WeGo Star | Tennessee | 1 | 1,100 | 300 | No |
| Vancouver | CAN | West Coast Express | British Columbia | 1 | 9,900 | 6,100 | No |
| Portland | USA | WES Commuter Rail | Oregon | 1 | 1,600 | 300 | No |

## List of under construction and planned systems

There are several commuter rail systems currently under construction or in development in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
| Metropolitan Area | Country | Province/State | System |
| Aguascalientes | MEX | Aguascalientes | Tren Suburbano (no official name yet) |
| Guadalajara | MEX | Jalisco | Tren Suburbano |
| Monterrey | MEX | Nuevo León | Tren Suburbano de Monterrey |
| Alameda County / San Joaquin County | USA | California | Valley Link |
| Anchorage | USA | Alaska | Alaska Railroad (existing long-distance railroad, proposed commuter service) |
| Charlotte | USA | North Carolina | Lynx Red Line |
| Cincinnati metropolitan area | USA | Ohio | Eastern Corridor Commuter Rail |
| Dallas | USA | Texas | DART Silver Line |
| Detroit | USA | Michigan | SEMCOG Commuter Rail |
| Durham | USA | North Carolina | GoTriangle commuter rail (no official name) |
| Fort Worth | USA | Texas | Burleson commuter rail |
| Houston | USA | Texas | Southwest Rail Corridor |
| Jacksonville | USA | Florida | First Coast Commuter Rail |
| Miami-Dade | USA | Florida | Northeast Corridor Rapid Transit Project |
| Milwaukee | USA | Wisconsin | Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Commuter Rail |
| Minneapolis | USA | Minnesota | Dan Patch Corridor |
| Oklahoma City | USA | Oklahoma | Oklahoma City commuter rail |
| Phoenix | USA | Arizona | Arizona Passenger Rail Corridor Study |
| San Diego | USA | California | SANDAG Transit Leap |
| San Luis Obispo | USA | California | Coast Rail Corridor Study |
| Santa Cruz | USA | California | Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Railroad |
* Under construction

## Former

The following systems have ceased operations since the formation of Amtrak in 1971.
* CalTrain, Oxnard to Los Angeles (1982–1983)
* Champlain Flyer, Burlington, Vermont (2000–2003)
* Cleveland commuter rail, former Erie Lackawanna, later Conrail, service between Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio (until 1977)
* Cannonball between Milwaukee and Watertown, Wisconsin (until 1972)
* OnTrack, Syracuse, New York (1994–2007)
* Parkway Limited, Pittsburgh, PA (1981)
* PATrain, Pittsburgh, PA (1979–1989)
* Calumet, Penn Central, later Conrail service between Chicago and Valparaiso, Indiana (until 1979 when service was conveyed to Amtrak, operated until 1991)
* Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad service from Pittsburgh to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania (until 1985)
* Detroit, Michigan
** Penn Central, Michigan Executive between Detroit and Ann Arbor (until 1975 when service was commuted to Amtrak, operated until 1984)
** SEMTA (1974–1983)
* City rail, La Ceiba, Honduras (until 2006)
* FENADESAL service from San Salvador to Soyapango and Apopa, El Salvador (?–2000, 2004–2005, 2007–2013)