Is It a Streetcar or Light Rail?

[Ben Evellent]

Greater Greater Washington has created a guide to help you become an expert on this subject! Amaze yor friends! Confound your coworkers! Make your family wonder about you! (Mine already does.)

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/25409/how-to-tell-the-difference-between-streetcars-and-light-rail/

There is much confusion over what separates streetcars from light rail. That's because there's no single easy way to tell, and many systems are hybrids. To tell the difference, one has to simultaneously look at the tracks, train vehicles, and stations. It's hard to tell the difference because streetcars and light rail are really the same technology, but with different operating characteristics that serve different types of trips.

 

[user 1215]

That is perhaps the most well thought out answer to a question no one cares about that I have ever seen. I was actually impressed with the depth of the article and how long it is. Lots of pretty pictures, though, so I enjoyed the article - especially to find out where I've been missing out on riding streetcars and light rail.

I think this is the summation:

Light rail rarely intermixes with traffic and streetcars frequently do.

Doesn't make for much of an article, does it?

 

[BCL]

It's pretty obvious to me that "light rail" refers to the vehicle type, and streetcar refers to service type (stops for passengers on the street).

MUNI Metro is of course both a streetcar system as well as a dedicated station system. Santa Clara VTA is light rail, but only uses dedicated stations. However, they also cross at intersections, and in one case even has a traditional railroad crossing with crossing bars and flashing lights. At intersections however, the control is integrated into the traffic light system. I've actually seen one pass by where the left turn signal I was waiting for was completely bypassed for a turn.

San Francisco is also interesting in that they use traditional streetcar designs on the F-line that aren't light rail.