Passenger service on the 200-mile MARC system is distinguished by the need to serve commuters working in two different metropolitan areas. Rush-hour trains operate both ways on two separate routes between Baltimore and Washington: Amtrak’s electrified Northeast Corridor via New Carrollton (the Penn Line), and CSX’s Capital Subdivision via Jessup and College Park (the Camden […]
Type of Train: Passenger/Transit
Panama Canal Railway’s passenger train
Scenic highlight of a ride on the Panama Canal Railway is the Montelino Causeway across Gatun Lake. Bob Johnston The Panama Canal Railway Company is like a steel chameleon. It runs a successful passenger operation serving different types of travelers. Then, with the issuance of a simple track warrant, the railroad changes in an instant […]
Luxury trains in Mexico and South Africa
Coupled to the front of the Pretoria-Cape Town Trans Karoo are three Premier Classe cars – a new service providing comfortable accommodations at a reasonable price. The Trans Karoo is seen pulling into Hermon. Karl Zimmermann Luxurious cruise trains often turn up on public television specials, as do trips to such remote places as Mexico’s […]
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)
Two SEPTA MU trainsets are seen laying over between runs near Powelton yard, just west of 30th Street Station Philadelphia, on March 4, 2000. Matt Van Hattem SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, operates a network of commuter trains, buses, trolleys, subways, and trackless trolleys that serve Philadelphia and surrounding areas. SEPTA’s commuter rail service […]
Altamont Commuter Express
Altamont Commuter Express train 06 has just left San Jose, Calif., on its late-evening run to Stockton on April 23, 2001. Elrond Lawrence Altamont Commuter Express trains operate on an 82-mile route between Stockton and San Jose, Calif., through the San Joaquin, Central, and Silicon Valleys. ACE trains use a combination of Caltrain and Union […]
Riding Maine’s Downeaster
Twenty minutes out of Portland, Downeaster train 682 crosses Scarborough Marsh. Bob Johnston The return of passenger rail service to Maine was a story 13 years in the making, as Bob Johnston explained in the June 2002 issue of TRAINS Magazine. The passenger corridor, which launched in December 2001, could be a model for future […]
Coaster
Coaster trains operate on a 42-mile route between the Oceanside Transit Center and the Santa Fe depot in downtown San Diego, serving 8 stations. The tracks, once part of Santa Fe’s Surf Line, have long hosted intercity passenger trains between San Diego and Los Angeles. Today, Amtrak runs Pacific Surfliners on the route, linking San […]
Metrolink
Metrolink F59PHI 880 pauses with Orange County Line train 688 at the Fullerton, Calif., station at 5:39 p.m., on August 7, 1998. The Los Angeles commuter rail system has grown dramatically since its 1992 startup. George Fletcher Metrolink, the working name of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, operates commuter service in the Los Angeles […]
West Coast Express
West Coast Express train laying over in downtown Vancouver, B.C., in 1999. John Godfrey West Coast Express commuter trains operate on a 40-mile segment of Canadian Pacific’s transcontinental main line between Mission City and Vancouver’s Waterfront Station, serving 8 stations. The name for the commuter operation was selected by a panel of judges from over […]
Metroliner’s amazing career
The Metroliner leapt out of the starting gate in January 1969, beat the airline competition, and became a way of life for rail travelers throughout the Northeast. In the June 2006 issue of Trains Magazine, author Bruce Goldberg examines Metroliner’s distinguished career, from its launch by Penn Central to its stewardship under Amtrak, which nurtured […]
Railroad Fallen Flag Thumbnails: P-S
Penn Central Company Penn Central was created February 1, 1968 by merger of Pennsylvania and New York Central. Entered bankruptcy on June 21, 1970. Because of PC’s failure and its size, the federal government created Conrail, to which PC was conveyed on April 1, 1976. Pennsylvania Railroad Pennsylvania Railroad chartered April 13, 1846; by 1852, […]
Railroad Fallen Flag Thumbnails: C
Canadian National Canadian National Railways was incorporated June 6, 1919, to operate several carriers that had come under governmental control owing to financial problems: Intercolonial (1913); National Transcontinental (1915); Canadian Northern (1918); Grand Trunk Pacific (1920); and Grand Trunk (1920). The Grand Trunk name survived on the U.S. portion of the Montreal-Portland (Maine) line until […]
