What are the best and worst commuter rails in the U.S.?

[Green Maned Lion]

NJT not being the worst would scare me. Traveling from NYC to places within NJ works poorly.

Traveling from one place in NJ to another that is not on the same line is, hmm how do I describe this without making it seem like they intentionally make it as bad as possible? I can’t. Because given how everything manages to misconnect by a minute or two, they must actually be trying.

Example: I live on the RiverLine, and my parents live off the 832 bus out of Redbank. I take an off peak riverline to Trenton, and I need to arrive 28 minutes before the connecting Northeast Corridor train. I would then change at Rahway where I would then have to wait 56 minutes for the North Jersey Coast Line train. I would then get off at Red Bank and wait 58 minutes for the 832 bus.

I’m not talking about how it 4 hours to complete a 45 minute drive; I get it’s a wheel and spoke system. I’m talking about how up to 142 minutes of that trip- two hours and twenty two minutes- is spent because they can’t schedule trains and busses to connect, and perfectly so.

On top of that, they randomly cancel trains because they have so abused their crew that they can’t retain enough of them to run the trains. They don’t plan around that, either. So any of those long waits can at any time become an hour longer. Or both train connections.

proof it’s intentional? It mmiscobnects just as perfectly in the other direction, too!

 

[saxman]

Systems that have good coverage with good frequencies at non-peak times is what I like. I hate the systems that only run inbound at AM rush hour and out bound at PM. ACE and Sounder comes to mind for that. MARC and VRE seem to have bad frequencies as well. Austin and DCTA (Denton, TX) started out this way, but has somewhat improved since then. Lines that force you to transfer just to get to a major destination is also annoying to me. DCTA does this by only stopping at the northern DART station for commuters to get to Dallas. That alone kills ridership, even from this railfan, me!

Looking at MetroLink's map is impressive. They have great coverage throughout SoCal, but it's different story when you check the timetables. Some lines only run during rush hour with no weekend service. Other full service lines stop running around 6-7 PM making it useless for a huge chunk of potential riders. One of transit's biggest demographic comes from the service industry employees. As you know, service industry doesn't work 8-5 on weekdays.

Metra is pretty good although I don't really like the gallery cars when you have luggage. Jis mentioned Metro North and I've never had a problem with LIRR either. Tri-Rail, Trinity Railway Express, and Caltrain come to mind for having decent headways throughout the day and evening for being in such car oriented places. You can beat Denver's A Line from the airport to downtown either. 15 minute headways is impressive.

I'm not familiar enough with Front Runner (Salt Lake), Coaster, RailRunner, or SunRail to make a judgement though.

 

[Qapla]

For what it is, SunRail is OK.

• It starts early in the day and runs fairly late at night - but it is not 24 hour
• The trains are fairly ADA accessible as are the stations
• The stations are all outside with only a roof over them
  • This make then a rather warm place to wait for much of the year
  • If it is raining and the wind is blowing, you can get wet while waiting
  • They do have people at each station to assist with questions and/or ticket kiosks
• They share the same tracks as Amtrak and freight trains
• Many of the stations have good parking
• Due to political turmoil and shortsightedness, the North end terminates at DeBary
  • It was supposed to terminate at Deland
  • There were plans to extend from Deland to Daytona
  • Deland has decided not financially to support the trains killing expansion plans
• It basically runs through the middle of Orlando and does not have any spurs of the main line
• Seems to be fairly reliable and has a decent OTP report
• It does NOT run on Weekends

So, I'm not sure it this makes it near the top or the bottom of the list as far as good or bad

 

[Bob Dylan]

Lots of good systems, ( of course nothing is perfect)but per capata I have to say that Chicago,New York,( old systems)Portland,LA and Dallas-Ft Worth ( Newer systems)do the best job overall.

I'm especially impressed that 2 of the "Cars are King" Cities, LA and the DFW Metroplex have rapidly and reasonably built very good systems!

NJT,Washington DC and the Bay Area have to be the Worst, I'm not that familiar with Bostons system, but it's better than nothing!

 

[railiner]

Moving from a transit stronghold (NYC) to South Florida, I wasn't expecting very much...but I was pleasantly surprised by the schedule that Tri-Rail offers. It comes in real handy for me when I fly standby from NYC back to Florida...If I can't get to my home airport PBI, I can also try MIA or FLL, and hop on a Tri-Rail train to get home.

 

[fairviewroad]

For what it is, SunRail is OK.

• It starts early in the day and runs fairly late at night - but it is not 24 hour

With the exception of the Long Island Rail Road, I don't think there are any commuter rail systems in the US that run 24 hours a day. City transit systems, sure. But not conventional suburb-to-city heavy rail systems. There are a couple of NYC-area lines that come close, notably the NJT's NEC line and Metro-North's New Haven Line. But of course New York City is really in its own category, transit-wise.

At any rate, saying that Sunrail doesn't run round-the-clock isn't a real knock against it. The lack of weekend service in a region that's heavy with service-sector jobs is a real deal-killer, though.

 

[MARC Rider]

The DC Metro has been 50/50 with getting me there vs. bustitution. I have never had a good experience on MARC.

Funny, I rode the DC metro and MARC daily for almost 20 years before I retired last year. While DC Metro certainly did go downhill during that period, I never had a problem that required bustitution, except for once when there was a flood on the Mall. I could count on the fingers of two hands the number of times the MARC trains were really screwed up. Some were stuff like the earthquake, the time high winds blew tree branches on to the catenary, the flood where they made everybody get off at New Carrolton, etc. Most of the frustrations were delays in the afternoon due to heavy traffic (not enough infrastructure to handle the PM rush) or heat restrictions, or getting stuck behind broken down Amtrak trains .

I can't say that MARC is the best in the country (for one thing, I wish they'd gp more places more frequently), but as a frequent user, I was generally satisfied. And my last few trips on the DC Metro suggest that they've turned the corner.

 

[Night Ranger]

Funny, I rode the DC metro and MARC daily for almost 20 years before I retired last year. While DC Metro certainly did go downhill during that period, I never had a problem that required bustitution, except for once when there was a flood on the Mall. I could count on the fingers of two hands the number of times the MARC trains were really screwed up. Some were stuff like the earthquake, the time high winds blew tree branches on to the catenary, the flood where they made everybody get off at New Carrolton, etc. Most of the frustrations were delays in the afternoon due to heavy traffic (not enough infrastructure to handle the PM rush) or heat restrictions, or getting stuck behind broken down Amtrak trains .

I can't say that MARC is the best in the country (for one thing, I wish they'd gp more places more frequently), but as a frequent user, I was generally satisfied. And my last few trips on the DC Metro suggest that they've turned the corner.

I was in the DC area last fall and that was my impression too but more so for the Metro as I had the greater number of trips on it.

 

[Seaboard92]

TriMet in my opinion is horribly inefficient.

West side Express
-Runs from Wilsonville to Beaverton where you must transfer to A Max train to go downtown. And usually they don’t seam to be timed to each other.
-Only runs in the AM and PM rush.

MAX
-Good luck getting a connection at Pioneer Courthouse Square I’ve had to wait 25 minutes at rush hour from the Red to the Orange Line.
-Trains not running near the schedule especially late at night.
-Road traffic oftentimes messes up the downtown core.
-Doesn’t connect well with the Portland Streetcar

 

[Maglev]

TriMet in my opinion is horribly inefficient.

When I was there a couple weeks ago, I didn't see any trains longer than two cars.

 

[neroden]

With the exception of the Long Island Rail Road, I don't think there are any commuter rail systems in the US that run 24 hours a day. City transit systems, sure. But not conventional suburb-to-city heavy rail systems. There are a couple of NYC-area lines that come close, notably the NJT's NEC line and Metro-North's New Haven Line. But of course New York City is really in its own category, transit-wise.

Metra (Chicago) also has lines which run 5 AM - 11 PM. This is usually fine. It's useful to have some sort of middle-of-the-night maintenance window.

 

[Siegmund]

Metra (Chicago) also has lines which run 5 AM - 11 PM. This is usually fine. It's useful to have some sort of middle-of-the-night maintenance window.

The new downtown-to-Airport line in Denver is advertised to run 22 hours a day (closed 1am-3am) though the actual gap between last and first trains in a given direction is 2h45m.

I'm willing to call that running "all the time."

 

[railiner]

I'd say this timetable qualifies as 24-7...
http://www.ridepatco.org/pdf/PATCO_Timetable_2019-12-07.pdf

 

[Eric S]

If we're sticking to "commuter rail" then I think LIRR is the only 24/7 operation, although as others have mentioned Metro-North and RTD (Denver) come close. If we're expanding to include rapid transit/subway/metro (and potentially light rail), like PATCO, then there are a few such operations.

 

[jebr]

Metra (Chicago) also has lines which run 5 AM - 11 PM. This is usually fine. It's useful to have some sort of middle-of-the-night maintenance window.

The problem I have with that sort of service is that often there's no fallback bus service during that window. On many lines it may not be terribly efficient, but even having something as an obvious fallback when missing the last train of the night (that won't cost significantly more, as a 40-mile taxi/ridehail ride would) should be considered necessary to be considered top-quality in terms of service standard.

 

[Qapla]

Not sure what category it fits into ... but, isn't the PATH train 24/7?

 

[railiner]

PATH indeed operates 24-7, but it is really more like a subway system. Patco is more like commuter rail, albeit a fairly short route, that does use a former subway line to get into Philly...

 

[Qapla]

You have to forgive those of us who live in rural Florida where there are no commuter trains, subways, light rail or whatever other category they fit into ... we have to drive a distance just to ride Amtrak - so, we may not use the correct term for the various rail types since we do not really know what makes one different than the other.

 

[MikefromCrete]

I'd say this timetable qualifies as 24-7...
http://www.ridepatco.org/pdf/PATCO_Timetable_2019-12-07.pdf

PATCO is a heavy rail subway operation, not a commuter railroad.

 

[MikefromCrete]

I'll chime in again. Montreal's Metro is right up there. Am not sure it qualifies as a commuter train as it is mostly intra city. But it's terrific - fast, frequent and reliable.

Montreal's Metro is a heavy rail/subway operation, not a commuter railroad.

 

[Qapla]

To help those of us who "confuse" the types of rail:

Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are considered heavy rail, using electrified or diesel trains. Distance charges or zone pricing may be used.

The term can refer to systems with a wide variety of different features and service frequencies, but is often used in contrast to rapid transit or light rail.

Some services share similarities with both commuter rail and high-frequency rapid transit, such as the German S-Bahn, the Réseau Express Régional in Paris, many Japanese commuter systems, and some Australasian suburban networks. Some services, like British commuter rail, share tracks with other passenger services and freight.

In the United States, commuter rail often refers to services that operate a higher frequency during peak periods and a lower frequency off-peak.

Commuter/suburban trains are usually optimized for maximum passenger volume, in most cases without sacrificing too much comfort and luggage space, though they seldom have all the amenities of long-distance trains. Cars may be single- or double-level, and aim to provide seating for all. Compared to intercity trains, they have less space, fewer amenities and limited baggage areas.

Commuter rail trains are usually composed of multiple units, which are self-propelled, bidirectional, articulated passenger rail cars with driving motors on each (or every other) bogie. Depending on local circumstances and tradition they may be powered either by diesel engines located below the passenger compartment (diesel multiple units) or by electricity picked up from third rails or overhead lines (electric multiple units). Multiple units are almost invariably equipped with control cabs at both ends, which is why such units are so frequently used to provide commuter services, due to the associated short turn-around time.

 

[jis]

In the US, FRA uses the following specific definitions of terms:

Light Rail (49 CFR 1580.3):

Light rail transit means service provided by self-propelled electric railcars, typically drawing power from an overhead wire, operating in either exclusive or non-exclusive rights-of-way in single or multiple cars and with shorter distance trips and frequent stops; also referred to as streetcars, trolleys, and trams.

Heavy Rail (49 CFR 1580.3):

Heavy rail transit means service provided by self-propelled electric railcars, typically drawing power from a third rail, operating in separate rights-of-way in multiple cars; also referred to as subways, metros, or regional rail.

Commuter Rail (49 CFR 1580.3):

Commuter passenger train service means “train, commuter” as defined in 49 CFR 238.5, and includes a railroad operation that ordinarily uses diesel or electric powered locomotives and railroad passenger cars to serve an urban area, its suburbs, and more distant outlying communities in the greater metropolitan area.

OTOH 49 CFR 221.5 for its purposes defines Commuter Rail as:

Commuter train means a short haul passenger train operating on track which is part of the general railroad system of transportation, within an urban, suburban or metropolitan area. It includes a passenger train provided by an instrumentality of a State or political subdivision thereof.

And for the curious 49 CFR 238.5 has this to say:

Train, commuter means a passenger train providing commuter service within an urban, suburban, or metropolitan area. The term includes a passenger train provided by an instrumentality of a State or a political subdivision of a State.

 

[Qapla]

Well that's clear as mud

 

[jis]

The bottom line is that of the three, only Commuter Rail falls exclusively in the domain of the FRA. Light and Heavy Rail are generally governed by the FTA, barring an exception or two. The exceptions are due to historical reasons (e.g. PATH) or the hybrid nature of the system, like DLRT running on FRA governed tracks (e.g. NJT RiverLINE). Of course the new version of the Stadler DMUs are arguably fully Commuter Rail capable FRA governable units.

In Europe there is the developing concept of Tram-Trains, which the US seems to have shied away from so far, though NJT RiverLINE is a clear example of that. The Japanese have had these Commuter EMUs that become Subway trains within the city, running direct service from outlying areas to city center underground stations sharing tracks with city Subway trains. This is also uncommon in the US.

 

[railiner]

Sort of like the Chicago, Aurora, and Elgin interurban railroad sharing the CTA Loop in Chicago....