# Length of electrified rail in the US



## Swede (Feb 1, 2007)

I have googled for this for a while but not found any info.. What is the length of electrified railways in the US? The CIA World Factbook gives the total length of the railways to 226,605km, but does not state how much of this is electrified.

Does anyone here know?


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## PRR 60 (Feb 1, 2007)

Swede said:


> I have googled for this for a while but not found any info.. What is the length of electrified railways in the US? The CIA World Factbook gives the total length of the railways to 226,605km, but does not state how much of this is electrified.
> Does anyone here know?


I do not have exact figure, but it is something less than 1000 route miles (1600km). This includes the Amtrak NEC from Washington DC to Boston, Amtrak from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, and local lines in the Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago areas. There are some other short segments including a mine road in western Colorado.
The government-owned freight railroad that took over the failed Pennsylvania Railroad removed several hundred miles of electrification in the early 1980's. In that same timeframe, some local lines in the New York and Philadelphia areas had electrification added. In the late 1990's Amtrak extended electrification from New Haven, Connecticut to Boston. In the San Francisco area there is talk of adding electrification on the line to San Jose.


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## battalion51 (Feb 1, 2007)

Part of California and Florida HSR (if either project ever gets off the ground) calls for the electrification of the lines they run on.


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## AmtrakWPK (Feb 1, 2007)

At the current rate of progress for Florida HSR they will probably have fusion-powered trains by that time. Or "Beam-me-up-Scotty" will be a reality and there won't be any trains needed. :lol:


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## GG-1 (Feb 2, 2007)

AmtrakWPK said:


> "Beam-me-up-Scotty" will be a reality and there won't be any trains needed. :lol:


If I'm around at that time I may become "Dr. McCoy" :lol: :lol:


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## Swede (Feb 2, 2007)

Thanks a lot! This is a great source of information


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## George Harris (Feb 5, 2007)

If you can get your hands on a copy of the Railway Directory published by the Railway Gazette in the UK, it can give you all you want to know on this subject for anywhere in the world. It is not cheap to buy. For the 2007 version, the cost for the web version is 400 Euros or US$500.00. If you want the book it is 350 Euro or US$450.00. There is a price break if you get both, then it is "only" 500 euro or US$700.00. You may be able to find one a few years old in a college library.


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## PerRock (Feb 5, 2007)

There is also some trackage in Chicago/Southbend, IN which is electric. The Metra Electric service (good name uh?  ) and the Chicago South Shore and South Bend (America's Last interurban they claim) uses that trackage. I'm not sure of the length of it and all. you might try the US Department of Transportation's website. they seem to have a collection of US rail info. I'll look for the link.

peter

Edit: sorry it is the Bureau of Transportation Statistics website I was thinking of at: www.bts.gov

Edit 2: for non-american users you ned to go to www.bts.us.gov


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