page_title: Passenger rail terminology
section_title: Elevated and Overhead
hierarchical_section_title: Passenger rail terminology / Rapid transit / Elevated and Overhead
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Blick nach Norden von der Elevated Station Adams and Wabash English: Looking north from Chicago 'L' station Français&#160;: Vue depuis la station Adams and Wabash du métro aérien de Chicago vers le nord.
context_page_description: Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas:
context_section_description: Elevated is a shorthand for elevated railway, a railway built on supports over other rights of way, generally city streets. The term overhead tends to be used in Europe. The names of elevated railways are sometimes further abbreviate it to El or L. Some examples include:
  Chicago 'L' The best known elevated transit system in the United States.
  Vancouver SkyTrain An automated rapid transit system that is mostly elevated.
  New York City Subway A combination of the old IRT and BMT rapid transit systems that had built or leased numerous elevated lines throughout the entire city. New York "El's" are the oldest ones in the United States, dating from 1869.  Today, the majority of "El" lines in New York are in Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx. Most "El's" in Manhattan were torn down in the 1940s and '50s, some replaced by subways.
  Liverpool Overhead Railway This was the United Kingdom's only true elevated railway, although the London and Greenwich Railway of 1836 was constructed on a 3.45 miles (5.55 km) brick viaduct for the greater part of its length.
  SEPTA's Market-Frankford Line is elevated except for the portion running through Center City and University City, and is sometimes referred to as the "El".
  The Manila LRT Line 1 in Manila, Philippines, is an elevated railway, made operational in 1984 and the country's first urban rail transit since Manila tram service ended in 1944, during the Japanese occupation of the city.
  The BTS Skytrain is an elevated rapid transit system in Bangkok, Thailand, which was officially opened on 5 December 1999 by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. It now consists of 34 stations and 2 lines.
  Sydney Metro Monorail was an elevated monorail through the CBD of Sydney from the bicentenary in 1988 until its dismantlement in 2013.
caption: Chicago Transit Authority Chicago 'L' tracks in the Chicago Loop at the Adams/Wabash station at night.
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