Like all regional trains in California, the "Pacific Surfliner" is operated by a joint powers authority. The Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency is governed by a board that includes eleven elected representatives from the six counties the train travels through. LOSSAN contracts with the Orange County Transportation Authority to provide day-to-day management of the service and with contracts with Amtrak to operate the service and maintain the rolling stock (locomotives and passenger cars). The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) provides the funding to operate the service and also owns most of the rolling stock. The Surfliner coaches, primarily used on the "Pacific Surfliner", are named after it.


The San Luis Obispo-San Diego trip takes approximately 8½ hours with an average speed of ; maximum track speed is . Much of the "Pacific Surfliner's" scenic route follows the Pacific coast, with the tracks being less than 100 feet from the ocean in some locations. However, trains travel inland through expansive farmlands in Ventura County and industrial backlots in the Los Angeles Basin, San Fernando Valley, and parts of Orange County.


The "Pacific Surfliner" operates thirteen daily round trips between Los Angeles and San Diego. Five round trips run north of Los Angeles: two to San Luis Obispo, and three to Goleta with Thruway Motorcoach connections to San Luis Obispo. Thruway Motorcoach connections are also available to San Pedro; to Palm Springs and Indio; and to San Jose or Oakland (with connections to "Capitol Corridor" trains) via Paso Robles.


Because the San Luis Obispo and Goleta stations are not designed to turn equipment, and the San Diego Santa Fe Depot requires a time-consuming deadhead movement into a wye located about 16 miles to the north in Miramar, trains are operated in push-pull mode. The locomotive is at the rear of the train, pushing the train from Goleta, San Luis Obispo or San Diego to Los Angeles. At Los Angeles, the train reverses at the station, and the locomotive pulls the train to San Diego or Goleta/San Luis Obispo, respectively. Run-through tracks are proposed at Union Station in Los Angeles to ease congestion and reduce time spent waiting to enter or depart the station.


Local agencies along with the host railroads formed the Los Angeles–San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency (LOSSAN) in 1989.


A stop at Old Town Transit Center was added in 2004. Stops at Orange and Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo were added in 2007 but dropped in 2012. On October 7, 2013, stops were added at Coaster stations at Carlsbad Village, Carlsbad Poinsettia, Encinitas and Sorrento Valley. The Carlsbad Poinsettia and Encinitas stops were dropped on October 9, 2017 due to low ridership. The Carlsbad Village and Sorrento Valley stops were dropped on October 8, 2018 due to changes with the cross-ticketing arrangement with Coaster.


A 13th daily round trip was added on October 14, 2019.


The "Pacific Surfliner" runs on track owned by several private railroads and public agencies:


The Surfliner cars were introduced in 2000-02, and were designed specifically to handle the demands of the nation's third-busiest rail line. They replaced the California Cars which had been introduced on the then-"San Diegan" in 1996, and had been fraught with problems in the latter part of the 1990s.


A dedicated fleet of 14 Caltrans-owned Siemens Charger locomotives began pre-revenue testing in October 2018 and entered revenue service later that year. The Chargers replaced a fleet of 15 Amtrak-owned EMD F59PHI locomotives (built in 1998), which were sold to Metra on March 2, 2019. Amtrak-owned GE P42DC locomotives (which are also used at other times) were temporarily used as motive power until the Chargers were ready for service. The Surfliner cars and Charger locomotives (and previously the F59PHI locomotives) are painted in a blue and silver livery that is unique to the "Pacific Surfliner".


Additional Amtrak-owned cars are added (up to 12-car consists) during periods of high demand, including the San Diego Comic-Con, the San Diego County Fair, events at the Del Mar racetrack, and after the 2018 Southern California mudflows closed Highway 101. Amtrak Great Dome car "Ocean View" was occasionally used as an additional business class car prior to its retirement in 2019.


The East Boston Tunnel under Boston Harbor was the first North American subway tunnel to run beneath a body of water when it opened in 1904, and the second underwater vehicular tunnel of significant length built in the United States. The tunnel was constructed using a modified version of the Greathead Shield; of the tunnel is actually under water. The excavation took two-and-a-half years, and cost $3 million and the lives of four workmen.


Initially used as a streetcar tunnel, it ran from Maverick Square in East Boston to downtown Boston's Court Street station, with an intermediate stop at Devonshire (now State). Court Street had pedestrian access to Scollay Square station (now Government Center) but transfers to the East Boston Tunnel required an additional fare of 1 cent. In 1906, Atlantic Station (now Aquarium) was opened, with a connection to the Atlantic Avenue Elevated. Court Street proved to be a problematic terminus as its single-track design limited frequent service.


The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) began an extension towards Beacon Hill in 1912. This downtown extension was opened to Bowdoin, with an intermediate stop at Scollay Under (now Government Center), on March 18, 1916. Immediately west of the new Bowdoin station platforms, a tight turnaround loop track underground allowed trains to quickly reverse direction for the return trip. The project also included a new portal at Joy Street, which was used by a Central Square–Orient Heights line. The total cost of the extension was $2.3 million.


The East Boston Tunnel was originally planned to be operated with high-floor metro rolling stock and connected to the then-planned Cambridge Elevated line. When that plan was dropped in 1903 due to a disagreement between the Boston Transit Commission and the BERy, the stations were built with low platforms. Large bi-loading streetcars (with high floors but capable of loading from low platforms), which incorporated many attributes from metro cars used on the Main Line Elevated, began use in 1905. However, neither these nor the large center-entrance cars introduced in 1917 (which were designed for multiple unit operation) could fully handle the crowds.


In 1921, the Boston Transit Department (BTD)—the successor to the BTC—began work at Maverick Square to convert the East Boston Tunnel to high-floor metro trains. The next year, the BTD board approved the construction of high-level platforms at the four downtown stations. The Maverick Square incline was replaced with Maverick station, which provided cross-platform transfers between tunnel trains and surface streetcars.


Over the weekend of April 18–21, 1924, the East Boston Tunnel was converted to use the new high-floor trains. The tightly-staged changeover required 1500 men to complete. Temporary wooden platform sections were put in place to allow service to begin on April 21, with the permanent concrete sections completed over the following months. The edges of the original low platforms can still be seen under the high platforms at State and Aquarium. Rather than modify the narrow tunnel, the BERy elected to replace the streetcars with brand-new smaller-than-usual high-platform rapid transit cars which could operate in tight clearances—particularly around the tight loop at Bowdoin. Blue Line cars are thus long, substantially shorter than the Orange Line cars and the Red Line cars.


From 1952 to 1954, a surface-level extension was constructed along the recently-defunct Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad, from Maverick to the current terminus at Wonderland. The original trackage had been narrow gauge, but was converted to standard gauge for this Revere Extension of the subway. The first above-ground station on the new extension served Boston's Logan Airport, and was the first American urban transit connection to a commercial airfield. Beyond Maverick, the power feed was changed from third rail to overhead catenary (both at 600 V DC) to reduce the risk of winter ice buildup due to proximity to the ocean.


The line was officially renamed the East Boston Tunnel & Revere Extension by the MTA in 1952, and designated as "Route 3" on system maps. It was renamed as the Blue Line on August 26, 1965, as part of the new MBTA's color-based rebranding. The color blue represented water, as the line passes under Boston Harbor and travels near the coast for much of its length. Until the Silver Line was extended to Logan in 2004-05, the Blue Line was the primary rapid transit connection to the airport.


On April 21, 2018 the SL3 Silver Line service to Chelsea opened with a connection to the Blue Line at Airport station, providing transfer service to Chelsea, the Seaport District and South Station.


The first main construction phase of the project began on June 25, 1994, the line was cut back to at all times to permit reconstruction of the outer stations. and were completely rebuilt, while , and were renovated. A simultaneous $8 million noise reduction program added sound walls at Beachmont and Orient Heights, rubber mats under tracks, and soundproofing of nearby homes. The stations reopened on June 26, 1995. Unlike the other stations, Wood Island was not accessible after the 1994-95 renovation; elevators were not added until 2000.


was closed from October 14, 2000 until October 29, 2001 for renovations, which were completed in 2003. A relocated station opened on June 3, 2004. An extension renovation of , during which the station remained open, lasted from November 2004 to May 2011.


Reconstruction of began on October 4, 2005. The project was sufficiently progressed for six-car trains to enter service on September 15, 2008, though the station was not completed until 2009. Orient Heights was closed from March 23 to November 26, 2013 for a complete reconstruction. closed from March 22, 2014 to March 21, 2016 for a complete renovation and accessibility modifications. This left all Blue Line stations accessible except for , which also has an eastbound platform that cannot be modified for six-car trains.


There is a proposal to extend the Blue Line northward to Lynn, Massachusetts. The land to extend the line was purchased for the initial construction of the Revere Extension, but due to budgetary constraints Wonderland station was designated the northern terminus. Two potential extension routes have been identified. One proposed path would run through marshland alongside the existing Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line, on rail lines formerly operated by the Boston and Maine Railroad. An alternative route would extend the line alongside Revere Beach Boulevard through Point of Pines and the Lynnway, along the remainder of the BRB&L right of way. Other alternatives include increased commuter rail or bus service, or connecting the Blue Line to a commuter rail stop near Wonderland via a short connector.


In 2005, Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healy estimated construction would begin in 2017. Authorization to bond for planning money for the project was included in an April 2008 state bond bill, and $25 million in federal earmarks have been obtained. A 2004 state bond bill authorized $246.5 million on the condition of finding 50% non-state matching funds (which presumably would come from the federal government). The Draft Environmental Impact Report was expected to be complete by the end of 2008, but has been delayed as planners focus on meeting the legal deadline for the Green Line extension to Somerville and Medford.


The Blue Line and Red Line are currently the only MBTA subway rail lines without a direct transfer to each other; passengers must ride one stop on the Green or Orange lines to transfer. The proposed Red–Blue connector would extend the Blue Line west from Bowdoin to an underground platform at Charles/MGH station, allowing direct transfers to the Red Line.


An extension of the East Boston Tunnel to Charles Street was considered in a 1924 study of Charles station. A 1926 proposal to convert the Tremont Street subway and connecting streetcar lines into a pair of rapid transit trunk lines called for the East Boston Tunnel to be extended south to Park Street station, with through service running between Maverick Square and Brighton using the Commonwealth Avenue line. (Three potential alignment were considered: one running south from Bowdoin, and two running southwest from a relocated Scollay Under.) Regional transportation plans from the 1940s to the early 1970s focused on suburban extensions, with no downtown extension past Bowdoin.


The rise of Kendall Square as a major employment center, the coming of the Red Line Northwest Extension, and increased traffic to Logan Airport created demand in the 1970s for a direct connection between the Red and Blue lines. A 1974 state plan again proposed an extension to Park Street, while the 1978 and 1983 Program for Mass Transportation updates called for an extension to Charles/MGH instead. A 1986 MBTA feasibility study for a Charles/MGH extension called for a cut-and-cover tunnel beginning west of Bowdoin Street with no changes to Bowdoin station. The project was then estimated to cost $79–95 million (equivalent to $– million in ). A 1987 cost-effectiveness study estimated 9,030 daily one-way trips over the extension.


In 1991, the state agreed to built a set of transit projects as part of the settlement of a lawsuit by the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) over auto emissions from the Big Dig project. Among these projects was A Red Line–Blue Line connector, to be complete by the end of 2011. The 2003–07 reconstruction of Charles/MGH station was designed to accommodate a future Blue Line platform. In 2005, the state replaced the connector with other projects providing equivalent air quality improvements. After a second lawsuit from the CLF, the state agreed in 2006 to complete design of the connector. An Expanded Environmental Notification Form was released in September 2007


A 2018 MBTA long-range planning document considered a pedestrian tunnel between the Orange Line platforms at and , which would allow transfers between the Red and Blue lines similar to (though longer than) the Winter Street Concourse between the Green and Orange lines.


The North–South Rail Link is a proposed MBTA Commuter Rail and Amtrak tunnel which would link North and South Stations, which are currently stub-end terminals. In one of several options, the new tunnel would serve three new stations, two underground near the existing terminals and a third connecting to the Blue Line's existing Aquarium station. Should this link become a reality, it would be possible to transfer from most commuter rail lines to the Blue Line. From Aquarium station, a Blue Line rider could travel north to Airport station within five minutes.


The MBTA awarded the $174 million construction contract for the 94 cars in November 2001, with a total program cost of $200 million. The first deliveries were scheduled for January 2004, but ultimately delayed to 2007 due to manufacturing issues. The first set entered revenue service on February 20, 2008. The first three six-car trains began operating on September 15, 2008; by February 2009, eight of thirteen trainsets used at rush hour were six-car sets. By November 2009, all service was with six-car trains.


The first generation of high-floor rolling stock on the line were the No. 1 and No. 2 East Boston Rapid Transit cars, which were built by Pullman-Standard in 1923–1924 when the line was converted from streetcar operation to rapid transit. These were supplemented by the No. 3 fleet, built in 1951 by St. Louis Car Company, which was acquired for the Revere Extension. Cars in these earlier fleets were numbered in the 0500 series.


The A Line, officially called the University of Colorado A Line for sponsorship reasons, is a Regional Transportation District (RTD) commuter rail line serving Denver and Aurora, Colorado, operating between Downtown Denver and Denver International Airport (DIA). During planning and construction the A Line was also known as the East Rail Line, which it is now infrequently called. Most locals refer to it as simply the A Line. Despite its official title, the line does not serve the campuses of the University of Colorado.


Mass transit has been under consideration for the corridor between Downtown Denver and Denver International Airport since the latter was proposed in the 1980s. The project gathered momentum in 1997 when a Major Investment Study was completed for the corridor, encouraging fixed-guideway mass transit (light rail or commuter rail), highway widening and general improvements. The project was approved as part of the FasTracks transit expansion package in November 2004, went through regulatory processes and was approved by the Federal Transit Administration in November 2009. In July 2007, it was decided to use electric instead of diesel propulsion over speed and air pollution concerns.


RTD designated the line with the letter “A”, denoting service to the airport and Aurora. Groundbreaking for the A Line was held on August 26, 2010. As the second line of RTD’s FasTracks expansion plan, the East Corridor was constructed and operated under the Eagle P3 public–private partnership. The first electric multiple unit railcars were pulled along the route on April 3, 2015, commencing testing and commissioning of the line.


Revenue service began on April 22, 2016. A software problem in the equipment closing the crossing gates has resulted in the use of traffic guards and frequent delays since the opening, earning the project a slot on Westword's 2016 Colorado Hall of Shame.


Since the A line's opening in April 2016, it has had a number of operational issues. The main issue is with the crossing gate technology. Crossing arms have been coming down too early and staying down too long, causing traffic backups. Today, RTD is making progress in fixing the crossing gate timing system along the A line. The A line shares crossings with Union Pacific tracks. This adds complexity to the crossing gate programs and technology.


In June 2018, the FRA approved a plan to remove the flaggers monitoring the crossing gates along the A line. This approval also allows local jurisdictions to submit requests to the FRA to establish "quiet zones", removing the need for trains crossing through the gates to blow their horns.


The A Line route follows and remains within a mile of Interstate 25, Interstate 70, and the airport access highway (Peña Boulevard). The line makes use of a preexisting Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way along the portion of the route from downtown Denver heading east, then deviates to the north along Peña Boulevard in newly created right-of-way. Peña Boulevard was designed with an extra wide median between its inbound and outbound lanes that could have been used for rail transit, though ultimately the East Rail Corridor alignment was offset from the highway right-of-way.


The Orange Line is a rapid transit line in Chicago, Illinois, operated by the Chicago Transit Authority as part of the Chicago "L" system. It is approximately long and runs on elevated and at grade tracks and serves the Southwest Side, running from the Loop to Midway International Airport. As of 2019, an average of 27,230 riders board Orange Line trains on weekdays.


The Orange Line begins in an open cut at a station on the east side of Midway International Airport. From here, the line rises to an elevated viaduct at 55th Street and continues northeast towards the city on railroad right-of-way. At Lawndale Avenue the line turns east along a CSX right-of-way at 49th Street to a point east of Western Boulevard, then curves north and northwest on embankment structure along CSX right-of-way to Western Boulevard and Pershing Road.


From here, the line rises on elevated structure again and makes a curve to cross Archer Avenue, the CSX tracks and Western Boulevard before descending onto Illinois Central Railroad Railroad right-of-way immediately east of Western Boulevard. Entering the IC right-of-way, the line again changes from elevated structure to surface level. The line continues on surface level to Ashland Avenue where it crosses a bridge over the South Branch of the Chicago River. At this point, the line enters the joint Illinois Central and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad right-of-way continuing on embankment to Canal Street.


There the line again transitions to the elevated structure to bridge Canal Street, Cermak Road and the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad tracks then curves east to run along the south side of 18th Street, crossing over the Red Line and the Rock Island District tracks near Wentworth Avenue, before joining the South Side Elevated at a flying junction between 16th and 17th Streets. The ballasted track ends and the timber deck begins here. Orange Line trains share the tracks with the Green Line operating from this junction to Tower 12 at the southeast corner of the Loop. Orange Line trains operate clockwise around the inner loop - via Van Buren Street, Wells Street, Lake Street and Wabash Avenue - before returning to Midway.


Along the Orange Line's main route there are seven stations. An eighth station is located at Roosevelt/Wabash on the South Side Elevated which Orange Line trains share with Green Line trains. A passenger tunnel connects this station with the Roosevelt/State subway station on the Red Line.


A downtown superstation was proposed to provide express service from the Loop to O'Hare and Midway, via the Orange and Blue Lines, but the project was cancelled during the excavation process due to significant cost overruns.


The Orange Line operates between Midway and the Loop weekdays from 3:30 a.m. to 1:25 a.m., Saturdays from 4 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. and Sundays from 4:30 a.m. to 1:25 a.m. On weekdays, headways consists of 10tph (trains per hour) during rush hour, 8tph during midday and 5tph at night. Saturday service consists 5-8tph during the day, then 3-4tph during late night hours. Sunday service runs 5tph during the day, then 3-4 tph at night.


During morning rush hour, several Orange Line trains bound for the Loop continue toward the Brown Line after stopping at Adams/Wabash station; whereas several Brown Line trains bound for Midway continue as the Orange Line after stopping at Harold Washington Library station.


The Orange Line is operated with the 2600-series cars. From November 8, 2012 to October 31, 2014, some 2400-series railcars were assigned to the line. From the opening of the route to October 2018, 3200-series railcars were assigned to the line. Trains operate using eight cars during weekday rush hours and four cars during other times on weekdays and all day on weekends except for special events when eight cars may be required. The Orange Line's 2600-series cars are to remain in service on the line until the early 2020s, where they will be replaced by the new 7000-series cars.


Beginning September 2018, CTA began to transfer the Orange Line's 3200-series cars to the Blue Line. As of October 2018, the 3200-series cars no longer operate on the Orange Line.


The Orange Line opened for service on October 31, 1993, and was the first all-new service in Chicago since the Dan Ryan Line opened in September 1969 and the first extension to the CTA system since the O'Hare Airport Extension of the Blue Line in September 1984. But its planning dates back to the late 1930s when the City of Chicago proposed a high speed subway extension along Wells-Archer-Cicero between the Loop and 63rd Street and Cicero Avenue near Chicago Midway International Airport (then called Chicago's Municipal Airport). It would be another four decades before Chicago transit planners became serious about providing rapid transit service to this area of the city.


In 1979, the City began the Southwest Transit Project, which proposed extending the CTA 'L' system to the Southwest Side of Chicago over existing railroad rights-of-way and newer elevated connections along the very busy Archer-49th-Cicero Corridor from the Loop to its originally planned terminus at Ford City Shopping Center. Funding for the project was made possible from Interstate Highway Transfer monies saved after the city decided to cancel the high priced and controversial Crosstown Expressway and Franklin Street subway projects. Federal funding for the project was secured by U.S. Representative William Lipinski as a favor from then-President Ronald Reagan, who wanted to thank Lipinski for his vote to provide aid to the Nicaraguan contras.


In 1987, construction of the $500 million transit line began and continued until fall 1993. When the Midway Line opened, the CTA decided to adopt a color-coded naming system for the rapid transit network (like Boston, Washington D.C. and Cleveland) and named it the Orange Line.


Destination signs on CTA trains have a line bearing Ford City. The Ford City Mall is about two miles (3 km) south of Midway Airport, and it was originally planned to be the line's terminal. However, because of financial shortfalls, the city decided to end the line at Midway Airport.


The CTA analyzed the cost of an Orange Line extension to Ford City in 2008 and determined that the project would cost approximately $200 million. Community meetings were held in neighborhoods surrounding Midway and Ford City to judge the level of public support for the extension.


The four corridors being studied for the Orange Line extension include alignments along Cicero Avenue, Pulaski Road, and a combination of the Belt Railway and either Cicero or Kostner Avenues. The corridors selected for further study are Cicero Ave (Bus Rapid Transit) and Belt/Cicero or Belt/Kostner (Heavy Rail Transit). In April 2009, the Cicero Avenue/Belt Railway corridor was chosen as the most viable option and advanced in the Alternatives Analysis process. By December 2009, the CTA had identified the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) as the Belt/Cicero route. According to a CTA report,


The CTA planned to prepare a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and complete preliminary engineering. However, the extension was canceled.


After stopping at Adams/Wabash, Orange Line trains return to Roosevelt, then make all stops back to Midway.


The Metrolink Ventura County Line is a commuter rail line serving Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles, in the Southern California system. The line is the successor of the short lived CalTrain commuter rail line.


Metrolink trains on the Ventura County Line ran weekdays only until Saturday service was added on May 29th 2021, mostly during peak commuter hours, and so with limited midday service. From Union Station to Downtown Los Angeles ():


Service is augmented during midday and on weekends by the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner line, serving most of the Metrolink stations on the Ventura County Line.


Additional airport shuttle service operates between Union Station and Burbank Airport–South station as the Hollywood Burbank Airport Line—BUR. Metrolink numbers Airport Line trains in the 900 series.


The line operates between Moorpark and Los Angeles Union Station on tracks owned by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority – the Ventura Subdivision from Moorpark to Burbank Airport and the Valley Subdivision, the Valley Subdivision from Burbank to Glendale, becoming the River Subdivision into Los Angeles Union Station. It uses the Coast Line of the Union Pacific Railroad between Moorpark and Oxnard and into Ventura where the Santa Paula Branch splits from the rest of the Coast Line. The East Ventura Station and layover facility are on the Santa Paula branch line.


The railway was originally constructed by the Southern Pacific Railroad as their Coast Line, connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco. The Montalvo Cutoff between Burbank and Ventura via the Simi Valley was built in 1904, bypassing the old line further to the north. Caltrans ran commuter rail service over the line very briefly in 1982 and 1983, but CalTrain was unsustainable due to a number of factors.


In 1990 the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, predecessor of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, acquired a portion of the right of way between Los Angeles and Moorpark from Southern Pacific and transferred it to the newly-formed Southern California Regional Rail Authority for commuter service. The line began operations in 1992 as one of Metrolink's original three routes, with service from Moorpark to Los Angeles Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles. Service was extended to Camarillo and Oxnard in 1994 after the Northridge earthquake, then to East Ventura in 2002.


A trial service on Saturday was tried in 2020 for this normally weekday only line. The Amtrak service does run on the weekends.


At 4:23 p.m. on September 12, 2008, 25 people were killed in a collision between Metrolink commuter train 111 and a freight train. At least 130 people were injured, with at least one dying later at a hospital. The crash occurred on the Ventura County Line near Heather Lee Lane, south of the Ronald Reagan Freeway(SR-118) and east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Both locomotives, the leading car of the commuter train, and seven cars of the freight train were derailed.


The Green Line is a light rail line on the Utah Transit Authority's (UTA) TRAX system in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States, operated by the Utah Transit Authority (UTA). It opened on August 7, 2011, and runs between Airport Station at the Salt Lake City International Airport and West Valley Central Station in West Valley City (via Downtown Salt Lake City) serving a total of eighteen stations: thirteen in Salt Lake City, one in South Salt Lake, and four in West Valley City.


The TRAX Green Line is designated as UTA Route 704.


West Valley Central to Central Pointe Station.


From South 600 West the Green Line briefly follows the route of the old Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) Sugar House Branch, which goes under I-15/I-80 and then briefly runs along the south side of West Andy Avenue to South 300 West. After crossing South 300 West it continues east until about 220 West where it reaches the Union Pacific right-of-way and takes a sharp turn north as it merges with the Blue and Red lines), before entering Central Pointe, which is just south of West 2100 South (SR-201).


Central Pointe is the only TRAX station served by the S Line. The S Line platform is situated just southeast of the TRAX platform. (The S Line provides streetcar service east to the Fairmont stop in the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City.)


Many TRAX stations include free Park and Ride lots, with some lots having as few as six parking spaces and others having nearly 1200. However, there are certain restrictions for all lots (for example, no 24-hour parking).


On weekdays the first northbound Green Line trains (to the Airport Station) leave the Central Pointe and the West Valley Central Station at about 5:00 am and the first southbound train (to the West Valley Central Station) leaves the Airport Station at about 5:45 am. The last northbound train leaving the West Valley Central at 10:27 pm and the last southbound train leaving the Airport Station at 11:27 pm. However, the last southbound train only goes as far as the Central Pointe Station; the last southbound train to the West Valley Station leaves the Airport Station at 10:42 pm.


On Saturdays the first northbound trains leave the Central Pointe Station at about 5:00 am and the West Valley Central Station at about 6:15 am; the first southbound train leaves the Airport Station at about 6:30 am; and the last northbound train leaves the West Valley Station at 10:19 pm and the last southbound train leaves the Airport Station at 11:16 pm.


On Sundays the first northbound trains leave the Central Pointe Station at about 9:00 am and the West Valley Central Station at about 10:00 am; the first southbound train leaves the Airport Station at about 9:30 am; and the last northbound train leaves the West Valley Central Station at 6:59 pm and the last southbound train leaves the Airport Station at 7:56 pm.


Green Line trains run every fifteen minutes on weekdays and every twenty minutes on weekends.


All of UTA's TRAX and "FrontRunner" trains and stations, streetcars and streetcar stops, and all fixed route buses, are compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act and are therefore accessible to those with disabilities. Signage at the stations, on the passenger platforms, and on the trains clearly indicate accessibility options. Ramps on the passenger platform and assistance from the train operator may be necessary for wheelchair boarding on the Blue Line. These ramps are not used for the Red or Green lines. In accordance with the Utah Clean Air Act and UTA ordinance, "smoking is prohibited on UTA vehicles as well as UTA bus stops, TRAX stations, and "FrontRunner" stations".


The Blue Line is a Chicago "L" line which extends through The Loop from O'Hare International Airport at the far northwest end of the city, through downtown via the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway and across the West Side to its southwest end at Forest Park, with a total of 33 stations (11 on the Forest Park branch, 9 in the Milwaukee–Dearborn subway and 13 on the O'Hare branch). It is the longest line on the "L" system and second busiest, with an average of 143,178 passengers boarding each weekday in 2019.


The Blue Line and Red Line are the only two "L" lines to provide 24-hour service year-round. The Blue Line is also one of only two lines with more than one station with the same name, with the Green Line being the other. (It has two stations at Harlem Avenue: one in the Kennedy Expressway on the Northwest side and one on the south side of the Eisenhower Expressway in Forest Park, Illinois. It also has two stations on Western Avenue: one on the Milwaukee Elevated and one on the Congress branch.) The Blue Line also has only two in-system transfers (all in the Loop), contains a combination of both the oldest and newest portions of 'L' tracks, and does not share tracks with any other 'L' line.


Before the adoption of color-coded names, the Blue Line was referred to as the West-Northwest Route (which it is still sometimes referred to as today) or more commonly, the O'Hare-Congress-Douglas route for its three branches. The Congress and Douglas branches were renamed for their terminals, Forest Park and 54th/Cermak, when the current color naming system was adopted in 1993. Blue Line service on the Douglas branch was discontinued in April 2008 and replaced by the Pink Line.


The Blue Line is one of five 'L' lines that run into Chicago suburbs, with the others being the Green, Purple, Pink, and Yellow lines. The Blue Line actually runs through three, making it the rail line that runs through the most suburbs on the Chicago 'L' system.


The Blue Line is the successor to the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad, which built a series of 'L' lines servicing the West Side of Chicago beginning in 1895. The first section to be built by the Metropolitan extended west in the vicinity of Van Buren Street from an independent terminal at Canal and Jackson Streets to Marshfield Avenue, and then northward in the vicinity of Paulina Street to Damen and Milwaukee Avenues. Service on this section began on May 6, 1895. The structure was completed from Damen Avenue to Logan Square on May 25, 1895.


The next stage in the development of the West Side 'L' came on June 19, 1895, when the Garfield Park Branch was added, extending west in the vicinity of Van Buren Street and Harrison Street from Marshfield Avenue to Cicero Avenue. An extension of service over the tracks of the Aurora, Elgin and Chicago Railroad to a new terminal at Desplaines Avenue was established on March 11, 1905. A subsequent extension to Westchester opened on October 1, 1926 over tracks that had originally been built by the CA&E with the intentions of building a bypass route. (Low ridership would prompt the CTA to discontinue service on the Westchester extension on December 9, 1951.)


Another branch line was added to the rapidly growing Metropolitan on July 29, 1895, when trains began operating over the Humboldt Park Branch, splitting off from the Logan Square Branch at and running west alongside North Avenue to a terminal at Lawndale Avenue. This was followed by still another addition when the Douglas Park Branch was placed in operation as far south as 18th Street on April 28, 1896.


As the southwest area of the city developed, the Douglas Park Branch was extended from 18th Street to Western Avenue in September 1896; to Pulaski Road in June 1902; to Cicero Avenue in December 1907; to Central Avenue in August 1912; to 62nd Avenue in August 1915, and to Oak Park Avenue in Berwyn on March 16, 1924. The Douglas Park branch was later cut back to 54th Avenue in Cicero.


The Metropolitan West Side Elevated began service onto the Loop on October 11, 1897, and a rush period stub terminal at Wells Street was added October 3, 1904. For much of the early 20th century and through the 1940s, service on the West Side Elevated lines went unchanged until 1947, when the Chicago Transit Authority took control of the 'L', initiating a series of massive service cuts and station closings (that would last until the 1980s).


On February 21, 1993, the CTA adopted a color-coded naming system to the rapid transit system, and the West-Northwest route (O'Hare-Congress/Douglas) became the Blue Line. On April 26, 1998, the Douglas Branch lost its overnight (owl) and weekend service and began operating between 4 a.m. and 1 a.m. on weekdays only as a result of budget cuts that also eliminated owl service on several other lines. Congress (Forest Park) service was effectively doubled through much of the day since service frequency from O'Hare required shorter headways than what would have been left.


While the CTA claimed Douglas branch reductions were due to low ridership, community activists also pointed to badly deteriorated infrastructure and funding shortfalls, as well as a perception that the CTA was uninterested in serving the West Side. On September 10, 2001, the CTA began a historic reconstruction of the Douglas Branch to repair its aging stations and tracks. The work was officially completed on January 8, 2005 with new elevated structures, tracks, rebuilt stations, new communication networks and an upgraded power system along the route. On January 1, 2005, weekend service was restored.


In January 2005, the CTA held hearings on a proposal to reroute Douglas Branch service via the recently rebuilt Paulina Connector to the Lake Street Green Line, carrying Douglas trains to and around the elevated Loop for the first time since 1958. It was the first stage of what became the Pink Line. This would have allowed a doubling of Blue Line trains to Forest Park on the Congress Branch, since service would no longer be divided between the Forest Park and 54th/Cermak terminals. Due to community fears that the Pink Line would not be enough, however, the CTA decided to retain limited Douglas Branch Blue Line service during weekday rush hours.


On February 15, 2006, the CTA approved the separate operation of the Douglas Branch plan. All non-rush hour trains would all be routed via the Loop, Green Line and Paulina Connector. During rush hour, service was available on the new route as well as the existing route via the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway. These changes were scheduled to be implemented for a 180-day trial period beginning June 25, 2006 and after their evaluation in early 2007, the Pink Line remained in service.


Beginning April 28, 2008, the CTA began a six-month experimental ceasing of Blue Line operations on the Douglas. Despite maintaining that the service cut was an experiment, the CTA immediately covered Blue Line stations' directional signage for trains to with paint rather than temporary covering, suggesting it was a permanent discontinuation instead of a temporary one. All Douglas Branch operations are now served by the Pink Line. On December 4, 2008, CTA announced its decision to permanently discontinue Blue Line service on the Douglas branch and to make the Pink Line permanent.


On October 15, 2015, the CTA announced the completed installation of 4G wireless service on the Blue Line in between the Logan Square and Belmont stations. In the future this will mean that the CTA will be the largest rapid transit system with 4G coverage in subway tunnels and stations, this is targeted for the end of 2015.


At the intersection of Ashland and Milwaukee Avenues, the Blue Line descends underground, swings over to Milwaukee Avenue, and continues southeast towards downtown under Milwaukee Avenue (with stops at , and . The line then turns east under Lake Street, crossing beneath the Chicago River, and makes a stop at , where in-system transfers are provided to 'L' trains on the Loop. East of Clark/Lake, the tracks swing south under Dearborn Street, and stop three times along a continuous platform similar to that used in the adjacent State Street Subway, with stops at , , and . Jackson provides a transfer tunnel to the Red Line. Until October 2006, a transfer tunnel existed at Washington as well.


South of Jackson, the line turns west under Ida B. Wells Drive (with stops at and ). The tracks then emerge from a portal near in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway (Interstate 290) and continue west.


After exiting the subway, the tracks continue west in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway as the Forest Park branch, formerly called the Congress branch, successor to the Garfield Park Branch.


The Cermak branch, formerly known as the Douglas branch, previously was operated as part of the Blue Line. On April 28, 2008, the CTA eliminated Blue Line service on the Cermak branch, having been replaced by the Pink Line. The Loomis ramp that connects the Congress branch to the Cermak branch remains intact for non-revenue equipment moves, as the only track connection between the Blue Line and the rest of the system.


On July 11, 2006, a derailment caused a smoky fire in the Blue Line's Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway. There were injuries from smoke inhalation, but no fatalities. The comparatively minor incident prompted heavy news coverage and a temporary stoppage of Chicago subway service because it occurred hours after train bombings in Mumbai earlier the same day.


In the early morning of March 24, 2014, a Blue Line train derailed at O'Hare at the end of its run. Initial reports said that 32 passengers on the train were injured, but none of the injuries were considered life-threatening. The station reopened on Sunday, March 30, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.


On April 10, 2019, a Blue Line train derailed in the tunnel near O'Hare station.


For the past twenty years, there had been talk of extending the O'Hare section of the Blue Line westward to Schaumburg, but that has been changed, due to recent developments involving the planning of the Metra STAR Line and various other transportation projects.


However, in 2008, the Regional Transit Authority revealed a plan to the RTA board to expand commuter rail and bus service, which included a extension of the Blue Line on an east-west route, from its current western terminus at Forest Park as far west as the Yorktown shopping center in DuPage County. Several feeder bus services would also be implemented along the route in order to supplement ridership and increase its usefulness. The prospect of this extension was also listed in the Chicago region's 2030 long-term master plan.


In early 2013, the idea of an infill station at Nagle and Bryn Mawr Avenues was declined. Such a station remains only idea but it may come to fruition in the future because that particular stretch of the line, between Jefferson Park and Harlem/Kennedy, is the second longest on the 'L' system without a station (behind the gap on the Yellow Line between and ).


In December 2016, Pace introduced the on-highway BRT I-90 Express service. The successor to the Blue line Extension and the STAR Line, this service serves as an extension of the Blue Line and provides rapid service along I-90 all the way to Elgin.


Between Grand/Milwaukee and Clark/Lake in the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway, two more stub tunnels also exist, continuing west under Lake Street while the in-service tracks turn northwest under Milwaukee Avenue. This junction (actually a stacked junction), built in the 1940s along with the subway, was intended for a never-built connection to, or subway replacement of the Lake Street Elevated. In the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, they were also proposed to be a service link between the Dearborn Subway and a high-speed subway route in Randolph Street to replace a portion of the Lake Street 'L' east of Damen Avenue ("Transit Planning Study Chicago Central Area", April 1968).


The PHX Sky Train is an electric people mover at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona. The first segment opened to the public on April 8, 2013. The second segment, extending the train to Terminal 3, opened on December 8, 2014. The 24/7 service operates free of charge, with trains running every 3–5 minutes.


The PHX Sky Train is gradually replacing shuttle buses. Inter-terminal shuttle bus service was discontinued on January 15, 2015. Rental car shuttle buses remain in service but are planned to be eliminated when the final PHX Sky Train segment extends the people mover to the Rental Car Center in 2022.


The PHX Sky Train features a bridge over Taxiway R, one of three taxiways that connects the north and south runways. This is the first transit bridge in the world to be built over an active taxiway. The bridge is tall enough to allow for Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 aircraft to pass under.


Phase 1 consists of a segment constructed between December 2008 and April 2013. It links Terminal 4, the East Economy Parking lot, and the 44th Street/Washington station of the Valley Metro Rail. The guideway runs in a new underpass (below the Union Pacific railroad), past the jet-fuel tank farm, and alongside 44th Street. At an estimated cost of $1.58 billion, phase 1 opened on April 8, 2013.


Phase 1a, which opened December 8, 2014, extended the train from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3. A covered walkway connected the Terminal 3 station with Terminal 2 until Terminal 2 closed in February 2020.


Phase 2, which is under construction as of mid-2020 with a planned completion date of 2022, will extend the Sky Train west from Terminal 3 to the Rental Car Center. Funding was approved in October 2016 and the extension is projected to cost $700 million. Phase 2 will be fully funded by airline and rental car passenger fees. The extension will pass in two cuts underneath future taxiways and Interstate 10.


Phase 2 includes provisions for infill stations to be constructed for a future "West Terminal" (on the site of the West Economy Parking lots) as well as a new ground transportation center to be built just east of 24th Street. Both the new terminal and new ground transportation center are unfunded and included in the airport's 20-year Comprehensive Asset Management Plan.


At 44th Street station, domestic passengers can check baggage for flights operated by American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines. Bags must be checked at least 90 minutes prior to the flight's departure time. Once checked, the baggage is delivered in locked containers to the internal baggage-handling systems at Terminal 4. Delivery of the baggage is via secured shuttle-trucks that run approximately every eight minutes.


44th Street also has a passenger drop-off area, cell phone lot, bike racks, and bike lockers. It is also served by routes 1, 32, and 44 of the Valley Metro Bus system. FlixBus boards from the north side of the Sky Train station.


Select airlines also offer kiosks to print boarding passes at the 44th Street/Washington and East Economy Parking stations.


Three months after opening, the PHX Sky Train carried about 70,000 people per week, over 40% higher than the design estimates of about 48,000. The busiest days are Thursday and Friday. The busiest times are 5 am-8 am and noon-3 pm In March 2016, average daily ridership was 15,940.


Cumulative ridership hit 1 million in 2013 and hit 10 million in 2015.


Rolling stock consists of 18 Bombardier Innovia APM 200 vehicles. Trains generally operating as six 3-car trainsets, although 2-car trainsets are in use during off-peak times. With the opening of Phase 2, Bombardier will deliver 24 additional vehicles.


The system is designed to carry 3,300 passengers per hour per direction. The average speed of the trains was forecasted to be , with trainsets capable of reaching , making the journey time from the 44th Street to Terminal 4 five minutes, plus an additional two minutes to reach Terminal 3.


This is Bombardier's third APM 200 installation following the DFW Skylink and Heathrow Terminal 5 Transit.


Different views of the PHX Sky Train and terminal.


AirTrain LaGuardia is a proposed people mover system and elevated railway in New York City, United States, that would provide service to LaGuardia Airport in Queens. It would connect with the New York City Subway and Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in Willets Point, similar to how the existing AirTrain JFK system connects with the subway and LIRR in southern Queens.


The system will be constructed and operated under contract to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the operator of the airport, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). In 2015, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a plan to build a people mover similar to the AirTrain JFK, and in 2018, the New York State Legislature approved a law for the AirTrain LaGuardia project. According to plans, construction would begin in 2021, with a projected opening in 2024.


The AirTrain project has been highly controversial. Project advocates say that it would improve access to the airport by subway and LIRR, alleviate traffic congestion, and alleviate air pollution in and around East Elmhurst. However, the construction of the AirTrain has been opposed by residents of nearby communities, as well as some transit advocates who have objected to its indirect route to Midtown Manhattan and high cost estimate.


LaGuardia Airport had no rail service when the AirTrain was proposed in 2014. The only public transportation is by bus via the routes, all of which connect to the subway. The Q70 also connects to the LIRR at Woodside station, while the M60 SBS runs to Manhattan, connecting with the Metro-North Railroad at Harlem–125th Street station as well as with several subway routes. In 2014, 8% of LaGuardia's 27 million passengers took the bus, compared to the 12% of the 53 million passengers using John F. Kennedy International Airport who took AirTrain JFK. Similarly, in 2008, 75% of LaGuardia's passengers took a taxi or car service, but only 16% rode a bus or van.


The New York metropolitan area's other two major airports have rail connections. AirTrain Newark, the monorail at Newark Liberty International Airport, has connected that airport to commuter trains since 1996. AirTrain JFK, the people mover at JFK Airport, opened in 2003. AirTrain LaGuardia is proposed to be a people mover like the one at JFK.


As currently planned, the AirTrain LaGuardia would run from LaGuardia Airport with two stops within the airport, before running over the Grand Central Parkway for before terminating in Willets Point near Citi Field and Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, and would connect there with the New York City Subway's at the Mets–Willets Point station and, via an existing passenger bridge, with the Long Island Rail Road's Mets–Willets Point station. The AirTrain trip would take 6 minutes, while the LIRR ride to Manhattan would take 20 minutes.


The Mets-Willets Point subway stop would be rebuilt, and $50 million has been allocated toward planning and designing this work in the 2015–2019 MTA Capital Program. Also as part of that Capital Program, the LIRR stop would be rebuilt for $75 million. The subway station and the LIRR station would be integrated with nearby buses as part of the overhaul for greater intermodal connectivity. The station could also possibly hold ancillary airport functions, employee parking, and a Consolidated Rent-a-Car facility. To allow for the AirTrain station in Willets Point to be built, the Casey Stengel Bus Depot will need to be relocated. $50 million was allocated in the 2015–2019 MTA Capital Program to acquire property for a replacement depot.


A rail link to LaGuardia Airport had been proposed since 1943, when the city Board of Transportation proposed an extension of the New York City Subway's BMT Astoria Line (currently served by the ) from its terminus at Ditmars Boulevard. This would be one of 20 proposals for direct links to New York-area airports that would all be canceled.


Prior to the construction of AirTrain JFK in 1997, Mayor Rudy Giuliani opposed the AirTrain at JFK because of a monetary dispute between the state, city, and Port Authority. Giuliani wanted the Port Authority to study the possibility of extending the BMT Astoria Line to LaGuardia Airport, among other things. Later that year, Giuliani agreed to the AirTrain JFK plan, and the Port Authority agreed to conduct a feasibility study on a similar LaGuardia rail link. In 2003, $645 million was budgeted to extend the Astoria Line to the airport, but the extension was never built due to community opposition in Queens.


In January 2020, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst, wrote to the FAA asking why 46 alternatives were rejected and noting that over 60% of the 414 public comments collected by the FAA were in opposition to the proposed routing. Hiram Monserrate, the area's Democratic District Leader, also objected that the FAA's approval had bypassed a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure analysis, as would have been mandated for other large projects. The same month, residents and business owners along the AirTrain's proposed route protested against the construction of the AirTrain on that route.


Many government officials and advocates support the current Willets Point AirTrain plan. In 2017, the "Newsday" editorial board wrote a piece in support of the AirTrain LaGuardia project, saying that it would increase mass transit patronage to the airport. The board cited AirTrain JFK as an example, saying that "officials with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey estimate the AirTrain provides 7.5 million rides to air travelers annually", and arguing that LaGuardia Airport needed a similar mass-transit airport link.


List of North American rapid transit systems by ridership


The company has roots back to 1920, when E. Roy Fitzgerald and his brother began operating two buses in Minnesota, transporting miners and schoolchildren. In 1936 the company was organized into a holding company. In 1938, National City Lines wished to purchase transportation systems in cities "where street cars were no longer practicable" and replace them with passenger buses. To fund this expansion the company obtained equity funding from companies seeking to increase sales of commercial buses and supplies, including General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California and Phillips Petroleum.


In 1936, they bought 13 transit companies in Illinois, Oklahoma and Michigan, then in 1937, they replaced streetcars in Butte, Montana and made purchases in Mississippi and Texas. Sometimes these systems were already run down, but not always. Major investment had recently been made with improvements to the streetcars systems in Beaumont, Texas. The Butte system, while sound, deliberately replaced to lower the load on the overtaxed electric system, which was primarily used for commercial uses, including electrolytic refining of copper and zinc.


In 1938 the company entered into exclusive dealing arrangements and obtained equity funding from companies seeking to increase sales of commercial buses and supplies, including General Motors, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California and Phillips Petroleum. The company was indicted in 1947 and was later convicted in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois of conspiring to monopolize the sale of buses and related products to the local transit companies that they controlled.


Over 1938 and 1939 the company made purchases in Alabama, Indiana and Ohio. and by 1939, it owned or controlled 29 local transportation companies in 27 different cities in 10 states.


American City Lines, which had been organized to acquire local transportation systems in the larger metropolitan areas in various parts of the country in 1943 merged with NCL in 1946. By 1947 the company owned or controlled 46 systems in 45 cities in 16 states.


In 1947 National City Lines, with others was indicted in the Federal District Court of Southern California on two counts: 'conspiring to acquire control of a number of transit companies, forming a transportation monopolize' and 'Conspiring to monopolize sales of buses and supplies to companies owned by National City Lines' in what became known as the Great American streetcar scandal (or 'General Motors streetcar conspiracy', 'National City Lines conspiracy').


In 1948, the United States Supreme Court (in "United States v. National City Lines Inc.") permitted a change in venue to the Federal District Court in Northern Illinois. National City Lines merged with Pacific City Lines the same year.


In 1949, General Motors, Standard Oil of California, Firestone and others were convicted of conspiring to monopolize the sale of buses and related products to local transit companies controlled by NCL and other companies; they were acquitted of conspiring to monopolize the ownership of these companies. The verdicts were upheld on appeal in 1951. The corporations involved were fined $5000, their executives $1 apiece.


There is considerable uncertainty and variability amongst sources as to where National City Lines operated.


"Forty-four cities in sixteen states are included. The states are as widely scattered as California, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Texas and Washington. The larger local transportation systems include those of Baltimore, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and Oakland. The largest concentrations of smaller systems are in Illinois, with eleven cities; California with nine (excluding Los Angeles); and Michigan with four. The local operating companies were not named as parties defendant."


This table attempts to bring together the many sources detailing the cities in which, at one time or another, National City Lines owned or controlled transit companies. A star (*) indicates that NCL is understood to have had significant control but not ownership:


In Los Angeles the Los Angeles Railway (Yellow Cars) was controlled by NCL but not Pacific Electric Railway (Red Cars)


Montgomery City Lines and the Montgomery bus boycott.


Montgomery City Lines was the National City Lines subsidiary that operated the municipal transit system for Montgomery, Alabama.


On 1 December 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to move to the back of a Montgomery City Lines bus. This led to the Montgomery bus boycott. Montgomery City Lines was placed in the middle of a dispute between Montgomery's black citizenry and Montgomery city laws. In a letter published in the Montgomery Advertiser on December 3, 1955, Montgomery's Transportation Superintendent J. H. Bagley wrote:


After Martin Luther King Jr. and the Montgomery Improvement Association wired a letter to National City Lines on 8 December 1955, the company's vice president, Kenneth E. Totten, traveled to Montgomery the following week.


The boycott lasted for just over a year, and cost the company $750,000 (equivalent to $ million in ). The boycott ended only after the United States Supreme Court affirmed Browder v. Gayle, a ruling that black bus passengers had a right to sit anywhere they wanted.


National City Lines acquired the trucking company Los Angeles-Seattle Motor Express (LASME) in 1959. In 1968, LASME merged with DC International and T.I.M.E. to form T.I.M.E.-DC.


National City Lines was later acquired by Harold C. Simmons early in 1981. T.I.M.E.-DC ceased operations in 1988. The company continued as a fully controlled subsidiary of Simmon' Contran operation until December 31, 2007, when it was dissolved.


Taken for a Ride is a documentary film by Martha Olson and Jim Klein about the Great American Streetcar Scandal. The 55-minute film was first broadcast on August 6, 1996 on the PBS television series "POV".


"Taken for a Ride" was described by Caryn James as "an uneven documentary" whose "nostalgia for the streetcar system as a glorious, clean model of efficiency seems addled rather than convincing". Academic Sara Sullivan gave the film a mixed rating in her 2010 review: "("Taken for a Ride") presents a compelling history of the streetcars and the battles over freeways in the 1970s," but that the film "feels incomplete, with certain aspects needing to be fleshed out and other links made."


List of streetcar systems in the United States


This is an all-time list of streetcar (tram), interurban and light rail systems in the United States, by principal city (or cities) served, and separated by political division, with opening and closing dates. It includes all such systems, past and present; cities with currently operating systems, and those systems themselves, are indicated in bold and blue background colored rows. It is one in a group of lists that collectively cover all countries of the world; the other lists are indexed at List of town tramway systems.


The use of the diamond (♦) symbol indicates where there were (or are) two or more independent streetcar (or light rail) systems operating concurrently within a single metropolitan area. Usually, this refers either to interurban lines connecting the area's principal city with other cities or to cases where separate cities within one metropolitan area were served by independently operated streetcar systems.


Unless otherwise noted in the "Type" column, all systems listed were/are conventional streetcar (tram) systems (although some past systems might have been termed "light rail" if that 1970s-introduced term had existed at the time they were in operation). Interurban and light rail systems are noted in that column for convenience.


For lists of existing systems only, see the following:


Peschkes (Part Four, 1998, Page 59) states that, despite various evidence, the following town did not have a tramway:


Peschkes (Part Four, 1998, Page 44) states that, despite the assumption of another historian, there is no evidence for tramways in the following towns:


United States v. National City Lines, Inc.


The General Motors streetcar conspiracy refers to convictions of General Motors (GM) and other companies that were involved in monopolizing the sale of buses and supplies to National City Lines (NCL) and its subsidiaries, and to allegations that the defendants conspired to own or control transit systems, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust act. The suit created lingering suspicions that the defendants had in fact plotted to dismantle streetcar systems in many cities in the United States as an attempt to monopolize surface transportation.


Between 1938 and 1950, National City Lines and its subsidiaries, American City Lines and Pacific City Lines—with investment from GM, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California (through a subsidiary), Federal Engineering, Phillips Petroleum, and Mack Trucks—gained control of additional transit systems in about 25 cities. Systems included St. Louis, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Oakland. NCL often converted streetcars to bus operations in that period, although electric traction was preserved or expanded in some locations. Other systems, such as San Diego's, were converted by outgrowths of the City Lines. Most of the companies involved were convicted in 1949 of conspiracy to monopolize interstate commerce in the sale of buses, fuel, and supplies to NCL subsidiaries, but were acquitted of conspiring to monopolize the transit industry.


The story as an urban legend has been written about by Martha Bianco, Scott Bottles, Sy Adler, Jonathan Richmond, and Robert Post. It has been explored several times in print, film, and other media, notably in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "Taken for a Ride", "Internal Combustion", and "The End of Suburbia."


Only a handful of U.S. cities, including San Francisco, New Orleans, Newark, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Boston, have surviving legacy rail urban transport systems based on streetcars, although their systems are significantly smaller than they once were. Other cities are re-introducing streetcars. In some cases, the streetcars do not actually ride on the street. Boston had all of its downtown lines elevated or buried by the mid-1920s, and most of the surviving lines at grade operate on their own right of way. However, San Francisco's and Philadelphia's lines do have large portions of the route that ride on the street as well as using tunnels.


In the latter half of the 19th century, transit systems were generally rail, first horse-drawn streetcars, and later electric powered streetcars and cable cars. Rail was more comfortable and had less rolling resistance than street traffic on granite block or macadam and horse-drawn streetcars were generally a step up from the horsebus. Electric traction was faster, more sanitary, and cheaper to run; with the cost, excreta, epizootic risk, and carcass disposal of horses eliminated entirely. Streetcars were later seen as obstructions to traffic, but for nearly 20 years they had the highest power-to-weight ratio of anything commonly found on the road, and the lowest rolling resistance.


Streetcars paid ordinary business and property taxes, but also generally paid franchise fees, maintained at least the shared right-of-way, and provided street sweeping and snow clearance. They were also required to maintain minimal service levels. Many franchise fees were fixed or based on gross (v. net); such arrangements, when combined with fixed fares, created gradual impossible financial pressures. Early electric cars generally had a two-man crew, a holdover from horsecar days, which created financial problems in later years as salaries outpaced revenues.


Many electric lines—especially in the West—were tied into other real estate or transportation enterprises. The Pacific Electric and the Los Angeles Railway were especially so, in essence loss leaders for property development and long haul shipping.


By 1918, half of US streetcar mileage was in bankruptcy.


By 1930, most streetcar systems were aging and losing money. Service to the public was suffering; the Great Depression compounded this. Yellow Coach tried to persuade transit companies to replace streetcars with buses, but could not persuade the power companies that owned the streetcar operations to motorize. GM decided to form a new subsidiary—United Cities Motor Transport (UCMT)—to finance the conversion of streetcar systems to buses in small cities. The new subsidiary made investments in small transit systems in Kalamazoo and Saginaw, Michigan, and in Springfield, Ohio, where they were successful in conversion to buses. UCMT then approached the Portland, Oregon, system with a similar proposal. It was censured by the American Transit Association and dissolved in 1935.


The New York Railways Corporation began conversion to buses in 1935, with the new bus services being operated by the New York City Omnibus Corporation, which shared management with The Omnibus Corporation. During this period GM worked with Public Service Transportation in New Jersey to develop the "All-Service Vehicle", a bus also capable of working as a trackless trolley, allowing off-wire passenger collection in areas too lightly populated to pay for wire infrastructure.


Opposition to traction interests and their influence on politicians was growing. For example, in 1922, New York Supreme Court Justice John Ford came out in favor of William Randolph Hearst, a newspaper magnate, for mayor of New York, complaining that Al Smith was too close to the 'traction interests'. In 1925, Hearst complained about Smith in a similar way. In the 1941 film "Citizen Kane", the lead character, who was loosely based on Hearst and Samuel Insull, complains about the influence of the 'traction interests'.


The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, which made it illegal for a single private business to both provide public transport and supply electricity to other parties, caused great difficulties for the streetcar operators which were frequently also generators of electricity.


National City Lines, Pacific City Lines, American City Lines.


From 1939 through 1940, NCL or PCL attempted a hostile takeover of the Key System, which operated electric trains and streetcars in Oakland, California. The attempt was temporarily blocked by a syndicate of Key System insiders, with controlling interest secured on Jan 8, 1941. By 1946, PCL had acquired 64% of the stock in the Key System.


In 1945, NCL acquired the Los Angeles Railway (also known as the "Yellow Cars"), which had been in financial trouble for some time. The new owner slowed the closure of streetcar lines and converted others to trackless trolleys, some of which used equipment initially intended for Oakland, others being purchased specifically in 1948. The LATL also bought new PCCs in one of the last major purchases of new streetcars.


He also questioned who was behind the creation of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, which had caused such difficulty for streetcar operations, He was later to write a history of North Jersey Rapid Transit.


On April 9, 1947, nine corporations and seven individuals (officers and directors of certain of the corporate defendants) were indicted in the Federal District Court of Southern California on counts of "conspiring to acquire control of a number of transit companies, forming a transportation monopoly" and "conspiring to monopolize sales of buses and supplies to companies owned by National City Lines" In 1948, the venue was changed from the Federal District Court of Southern California to the Federal District Court in Northern Illinois following an appeal to the United States Supreme Court (in "United States v. National City Lines Inc.") which felt that there was evidence of conspiracy to monopolize the supply of buses and supplies.


The San Diego Electric Railway was sold to Western Transit Company, which was in turn owned by J. L. Haugh in 1948 for $5.5 million. Haugh was also president of the Key System, and later was involved in Metropolitan Coach Line's purchase of the passenger operations of the Pacific Electric Railway. The last San Diego streetcars were converted to buses by 1949. Haugh sold the bus-based San Diego system to the city in 1966.


The Baltimore Streetcar system operated by the Baltimore Transit Company was purchased by NCL in 1948 and started converting the system to buses. Overall Baltimore Transit ridership then plummeted by double digits in each of the following three years. The Pacific Electric Railway's struggling passenger operations were purchased by Metropolitan Coach Lines in 1953 and were taken into public ownership in 1958 after which the last routes were converted to bus operation.


Urban Mass Transportation Act and 1974 Antitrust hearings.


The Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 (UMTA) created the Urban Mass Transit Administration with a remit to "conserve and enhance values in existing urban areas" noting that "our national welfare therefore requires the provision of good urban transportation, with the properly balanced use of private vehicles and modern mass transport to help shape as well as serve urban growth". Funding for transit was increased with the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1970 and further extended by the National Mass Transportation Assistance Act (1974) which allowed funds to support transit operating costs as well as capital construction costs.


In 1970, Harvard Law student Robert Eldridge Hicks began working on the Ralph Nader Study Group Report on Land Use in California, alleging a wider conspiracy to dismantle U.S. streetcar systems, first published in "Politics of Land: Ralph Nader's Study Group Report on Land Use in California".


In 1972, Senator Philip Hart introduced into congress the 'Industrial Reorganization Act', with an intention to restructure the U.S. economy to restore competition and address antitrust concern.


During 1973, Bradford Snell, an attorney with Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro and formerly, for a brief time, a scholar with the Brookings Institution, prepared a controversial and disputed paper titled "American ground transport: a proposal for restructuring the automobile, truck, bus, and rail industries." The paper, which was funded by the Stern Fund, was later described as the centerpiece of the hearings. In it, Snell said that General Motors was "a sovereign economic state" and said that the company played a major role in the displacement of rail and bus transportation by buses and trucks.


This paper was distributed in Senate binding together with an accompanying statement in February 1974, implying that this contents were the considered views of the Senate. The chair of the committee later apologized for this error. Adding to the confusion, Snell had already joined the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly as a staff member.


However, George Hilton, a professor of economics at UCLA and noted transit scholar rejected Snell's view, stating, "I would argue that these [Snell's] interpretations are not correct, and, further, that they couldn't possibly be correct, because major conversions in society of this character—from rail to free wheel urban transportation, and from steam to diesel railroad propulsion—are the sort of conversions which could come about only as a result of public preferences, technological change, the relative abundance of natural resources, and other impersonal phenomena or influence, rather than the machinations of a monopolist."


GM published a rebuttal the same year titled "The Truth About American Ground Transport". The Senate subcommittee printed GM's work in tandem with Snell's as an appendix to the hearings transcript. GM explicitly did not address the specific allegations that were "sub judice".


Quinby and Snell held that the destruction of streetcar systems was integral to a larger strategy to push the United States into automobile dependency. Most transit scholars disagree, suggesting that transit system changes were brought about by other factors; economic, social, and political factors such as unrealistic capitalization, fixed fares during inflation, changes in paving and automotive technology, the Great Depression, antitrust action, the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, labor unrest, market forces including declining industries' difficulty in attracting capital, rapidly increasing traffic congestion, the Good Roads Movement, urban sprawl, tax policies favoring private vehicle ownership, taxation of fixed infrastructure, franchise repair costs for co-located property, wide diffusion of driving skills, automatic transmission buses, and general enthusiasm for the automobile.


The accuracy of significant elements of Snell's 1974 testimony was challenged in an article published in "Transportation Quarterly" in 1997 by Cliff Slater.


Recent journalistic revisitings question the idea that GM had a significant impact on the decline of streetcars, suggesting rather that they were setting themselves up to take advantage of the decline as it occurred. Guy Span suggested that Snell and others fell into simplistic conspiracy theory thinking, bordering on paranoid delusions stating,


Other factors have been cited as reasons for the decline of streetcars and public transport generally in the United States. Robert Post notes that the ultimate reach of GM's alleged conspiracy extended to only about 10% of American transit systems. Guy Span says that actions and inaction by government was one of many contributing factors in the elimination of electric traction. Cliff Slater suggested that the regulatory framework in the US actually protected the electric streetcars for longer than would have been the case if there was less regulation.


Some regulations and regulatory changes have been linked directly to the decline of the streetcars:


Different funding models have also been highlighted:


Other issues which made it harder to operate viable streetcar services include:


Some of the specific allegations which have been argued over the years include:


Northeast Maglev or The Northeast Maglev, LLC, is a private U.S. company proposing a Superconducting Maglev (SCMAGLEV) train system in the Northeastern United States. Using technology developed by the Central Japan Railway Company, the Northeast Maglev would provide 15-minute service between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. with an intermediate stop at BWI Airport, and ultimately connect major Northeast metropolitan hubs and airports with a goal of one-hour service from Washington, D.C. to New York City.


In 2003, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), in cooperation with the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) on a proposal to build a Maglev project linking downtown Baltimore to BWI Marshall Airport and Union Station in Washington, D.C. German maglev technology, Transrapid, was selected for the project. An Environmental Impact Statement was prepared, but Maryland suspended the project and a final EIS was never issued.


The Northeast Maglev, LLC, was founded on March 25, 2010, to promote a revived effort to bring a maglev train to the Northeast Corridor. Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail, LLC, was founded in October 2011 and is the developer of the Northeast Maglev's first leg from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore.


In March 2015, the FRA issued notice of available funding under the Maglev Deployment Program (MDP). In April 2015, acting on behalf of Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail (BWRR), the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) submitted an application to FRA for the funds to perform preliminary engineering (PE) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) work related to BWRR's SCMAGLEV proposal.


In 2015 BWRR announced that the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) approved BWRR's application to acquire a passenger railroad franchise previously held by the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railroad Company. The railroad franchise was abandoned in 1935. In granting the railroad franchise to BWRR, the Maryland PSC found that "the construction and operation of the SCMAGLEV between Washington, DC and Baltimore will result in substantial economic and social benefits to the State (of Maryland) and Baltimore and be consistent with the State's environmental laws and policies enacted or adopted to reduce harmful emissions for cleaner air and address the causes of climate change," and that awarding a franchise to facilitate in development of the SCMAGLEV was "in the public convenience and necessity."


In 2016, the FRA awarded $27.8 million to MDOT to prepare preliminary engineering and NEPA analysis for an SCMAGLEV train between Baltimore, MD, and Washington, DC, with an intermediate stop at Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport.


In a Purpose and Need Statement, the NEPA Team for the SCMAGLEV Project, led by FRA and coordinated by MDOT, said the project's purpose was to increase capacity, reduce travel time, and improve both reliability and mobility options between Baltimore and Washington. "The population in the Baltimore-Washington area makes up one of the largest and densest population centers in the United States. Over the next 30 years the population in the area is projected to increase by approximately 30 percent. Similarly, the demand on the transportation infrastructure between Baltimore and Washington will continue to increase..."


The project has received endorsements of support from organizations including North America's Building Trades Unions, Greater Baltimore Urban League, Maryland State Conference NAACP and four of its local branches, and four Baltimore–Washington corridor chambers of commerce including Prince George's Chamber of Commerce, Northern Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce, Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce, and Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce.


On June 9, 2020, it was released that Northeast Maglev and B&O Railroad Museum created an alliance to bring educational support to the museum.


The first leg of the Northeast Maglev would connect Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, with a stop at Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport.


The first leg would be approximately 75 percent underground, and require a guideway (track) and three stations, a rolling stock storage depot, maintenance facility, power substations, ventilation plants, and an operations facility.


In December 2018, the Federal Railroad Administration released an Alternatives Report that identified two alignments that run along Baltimore-Washington Parkway to be carried forward as part of the more detailed Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) assessment process. The DEIS is a detailed analysis of the remaining options as they compare to the baseline, which is a 'no-build' option. The Alternatives Report also identified multiple station locations to be considered as part of the DEIS. In Baltimore, potential station locations include Cherry Hill in south Baltimore and a separate location closer to Baltimore's Inner Harbor at Camden Yards. Proposed stations in Washington, D.C. include locations below New York Avenue, to the west and east of Mt. Vernon Square.


While two specific routes are under consideration for the line's first leg from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, routes from Baltimore to New York have yet to be designed. In all, the Northeast Maglev is planned to have eight stops, including:


The Northeast Maglev will use the technology developed by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), who developed the world's fastest train, the Superconducting Maglev (SCMAGLEV).


JR Central has been developing SCMAGLEV technology since 1962. The Japanese government fully approved the technology for passenger service in 2014, and JR Central began offering public rides on its Yamanashi test track that year. The train holds the world record for fastest maglev train. JR Central is now extending its SCMAGLEV line, called the Chūō Shinkansen, to connect Tokyo and Nagoya, and ultimately Osaka.


The line is planned to use a variation of the L0 Series that is used for the SCMAGLEV in Japan.


The American High-Speed Rail Act is a proposed bill in the United States Congress. The bill would invest $205 billion into high-speed rail over five years.


The bill was reintroduced by congressman Seth Moulton.


The Panama Limited was a passenger train operated from 1911 to 1971 between Chicago, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The flagship train of the Illinois Central Railroad, it took its name from the Panama Canal, which in 1911 was three years from completion. For most of its career, the train was "all-Pullman", carrying sleeping cars only. The "Panama Limited" was one of many trains discontinued when Amtrak began operations in 1971, though Amtrak revived the name later that year and continued it until 1981.


Today, overnight service between Chicago and New Orleans is provided by Amtrak's "City of New Orleans", another former Illinois Central train that was originally the daytime counterpart of the "Panama Limited."


In the early 1900s, the Illinois Central's premier train on the Chicago-New Orleans route was the "Chicago and New Orleans Limited". On February 4, 1911, the Illinois Central renamed this train the "Panama Limited", in honor of the anticipated opening of the Panama Canal. The train included a St. Louis, Missouri, section that connected at Carbondale, Illinois. The train was first-class only north of Memphis, Tennessee. It carried through sleepers for Hot Springs, Arkansas, and San Antonio, Texas. It made the journey in 25 hours.


In 1912, the train was replaced with an all-steel, all-electric consist. The Illinois Central relaunched the train on November 15, 1916, with new equipment and a new schedule: 23 hours from Chicago to New Orleans. The new train carried only sleeping cars along its entire route. Its old equipment and schedule became a new train, the "Louisiane".


The Great Depression led the Illinois Central to discontinue the luxurious "Panama Limited" between May 28, 1932, and December 2, 1934. When it returned, it had new air-conditioned equipment and a faster, 20-hour schedule between Chicago and New Orleans.


The "Panama Limited" was dieselized and streamlined in 1942, during World War II. The Illinois Central had ordered two lightweight sets of equipment before to the attack on Pearl Harbor; after an appeal, the War Production Board allowed their delivery. The first diesel/electric-powered streamlined run of the "Panama Limited" was on May 3, 1942, on an 18-hour schedule. On hand for the first run was Janie Jones, the widow of famed engineer Casey Jones. The "Panama Limited" carried a new orange-and-brown paint scheme that later became standard on Illinois Central passenger trains. Today, Metra, Chicago's commuter rail system, honors this scheme by identifying the Metra Electric District, the Illinois Central's former commuter service to the southern suburbs, as "Panama Orange" on system maps and timetables.


For the duration of WWII, the Illinois Central dropped the extra fare. In June 1946, the schedule dropped to 17 hours; later the schedule was reduced to 16 hours, 30 minutes, again with the extra fare. In 1947, the Illinois Central introduced the "City of New Orleans" as a daytime, all-coach companion to the "Panama Limited" along the same route.


The "Panama Limited" maintained a high level of service until the Amtrak era. It was noted for its dining car service, with a first-rate culinary staff and creole fare in the "Vieux Carre"-themed dining cars, a service which the Illinois Central marketed heavily. A well-known multi-course meal on the "Panama Limited" was the Kings Dinner, for about $10; other deluxe, complete meals such as steak or lobster, including wine or cocktail, were priced around $4 to $5. In 1952, the Illinois Central acquired several 2-unit dining cars from the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad which it used on the "Panama". With the Pennsylvania's "Broadway Limited" it was one of the last two "all-Pullman" trains in the United States.


On October 29, 1967, the Illinois Central added coaches to the "Panama Limited", although it attempted to save face by designating the coaches the "Magnolia Star". The Illinois Central dropped this separate designation on December 13, 1968. The Illinois Central petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to end the train altogether on November 23, 1970, but the ICC deferred the request pending the startup of Amtrak.


The Illinois Central Railroad last ran the "Panama Limited" on April 30, 1971. On May 1, Amtrak took over, dropping the "Panama Limited" in favor of its former daytime counterpart, the "City of New Orleans." This train made no connections with other trains at New Orleans or Chicago, so Amtrak moved the train to an overnight schedule on November 14, 1971, and revived the "Panama Limited" name.


Amtrak restored the "City of New Orleans" name, while retaining the overnight schedule, on February 1, 1981. Amtrak hoped to capitalize on the popularity of the eponymous song written by Steve Goodman and recorded in 1972 by Arlo Guthrie.


In 1923 Esther Bigeou recorded as song she is credited as composing, "The Panama Limited Blues".


A different song of the same name was composed by Richard M. Jones. Jones recorded his "Panama Limited Blues" with singer Bertha "Chippie" Hill in 1926. The same year it was covered by Ada Brown. It was later covered by Georgia White in 1940.


Another blues song "The Panama Limited" is credited to blues singer Bukka White, who recorded it in the 1930. "The Panama Limited" was popularized by folk singer Tom Rush on his self-titled debut album in 1965 and was recorded later by folk musicians Mike Cross and Doug MacLeod.


A British band of the late 1960s and early 1970s called itself Panama Limited Jug Band, later shortened to Panama Limited.


The Office of High-Speed Ground Transportation was established in the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) to administer the requirements of the High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-220, 79 Stat. 893) to "undertake research and development in high-speed ground transportation, including, but not limited to, components such as materials, aerodynamics, vehicle propulsion, vehicle control, communications, and guideways."


The office was transferred to DOT and assigned to Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in 1967. The office was terminated in 1972, with functions transferred to the FRA's newly established Office of the Associate Administrator for Research, Development, and Demonstrations.


One notable product of the office was report commissioned from National Analytics on "The Needs and Desires of Travelers in the Northeast Corridor: A Survey of the Dynamics of Mode Choice Decisions."


Texas Central or Texas Central Partners, LLC is a private railroad company that is proposing a high-speed rail line between Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston. It plans to use technology based on that used by the Central Japan Railway Company and trains based on the N700 Series Shinkansen. The company has indicated that the journey time would be less than 90 minutes, with service beginning as early as 2026.


Lone Star High-Speed Rail LLC was founded in 2009, changing its name to Texas Central Railway in 2012. Texas Central Partners, LLC (TCP) was founded on September 24, 2013 as the company to build and operate the service, with the rail line itself owned by the separate Texas Central Railway (TCR). Texas Central Partners is working with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and TxDOT to develop the Environmental Impact Statement required by NEPA. In July 2015 the company announced that it had secured $75 million of private funding to allow the project to move forward from feasibility studies to development planning.


The President and CEO of Texas Central Partners is Carlos F. Aguilar, and he is responsible for the company's finance, development, construction and eventual operations. In December 2015 the company announced that it had appointed two new executives to help develop the project, both reporting to the CEO. The appointments are as follows:


On August 10, 2015 the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued a report that supported the so-called utility corridor for the line. In December 2017, the FRA further released their draft environment impact statement for the High-Speed Rail that proposed the preferred route.


The line was expected to use a variation of the N700 Series Shinkansen modified for export, referred to as the N700-I. However, following the launch of the N700S in Japan, focus has shifted onto this newer model. Its modular buildup makes it easier to change the train length from the 16 cars used in Japan and it is tested for higher top speeds, removing the need to perform expensive modifications. Trains in the US will consist of eight cars and are expected to have a top speed of , whereas their top speed in Japan is 186 mph (300 km/h) due to stricter noise regulations.


The signalling of the line is likely to be a replica of the digital ATC system used on Tokaido Shinkansen.


In January 2017, President Donald Trump's administration listed the project as a national transportation infrastructure priority.


In June 2017, it was stated that construction would begin in 2019 and would support 10,000 jobs during each year of the construction process and 1,500 permanent jobs once operations begin. In May 2018, Texas Central announced that global engineering firm Bechtel will work with bullet train developer Texas Central on project management. On September 13 2018, the company earned a $300 million loan for permitting, design and engineering. The company selected Salini Impregilo and its U.S. subsidiary Lane Construction Company to lead the civil construction consortium that will build the Texas passenger line, to the top of the rails, including viaducts, embankments and drainage.


In January 2018, plans for the station in Dallas were released as the preferred location identified by the Federal Railroad Administration in their Draft Environmental Impact Statement.


In February 2019, Texas Central announced that it had contracted Resource Environmental Solutions (RES) for ecological mitigation services to help protect and enhance natural ecosystems and the environmental throughout construction and operations. Also that month, Texas Central named Citi and MUFG as its financial advisers to spearhead its capital-raising efforts. The Federal permitting the Record of Decision was due by March 27, 2020, and a $5.9 billion construction deal was awarded to Renfein in February 2020. FRA regulatory approvals came in September 2020, with construction expected to commence shortly thereafter.


The right-of-way to be acquired from private property owners is a significant factor for the project. Ranchers living along the proposed route have challenged the company's attempts to survey and construct the line, questioning their right to eminent domain. Grimes County has opposed the project.


Texas Central Railroad filed a lawsuit against a landowner that refused to allow survey crews onto his land. The railroad filed for summary judgment in the case, "Texas Central Railroad and Infrastructure vs Calvin House", arguing that it was entitled to require private landowners to allow land surveys for possible future eminent domain purchases under Texas state law. However, in a December 2016 ruling, the Harris County, Texas court denied the railroad's petition for summary judgment.


In February 2019, a Leon County District Judge ruled that Texas Central is not a railroad company and therefore does not have the right to conduct surveys on private land.


In July 2019, Texas's 14th Court of Appeals in Houston reversed a previous decision by a lower court which granted summary judgement and issued a permanent injunction in Grimes County's public-nuisance suit against Texas Central and Pacheco Koch Consulting Engineers, Inc.


In May 2020, Texas's 13th Court of Appeals in Leon County ruled that Texas Central Railroad and Infrastructure, Inc. and Integrated Texas Logistics, Inc.) are both railroad companies and interurban electric railways.


The case "James Fredrick Miles v. Texas Central Railroad and Integrated Texas Logistics, Inc." is currently on appeal to the Supreme Court of Texas. The Ellis County commissioners' court, and other counties along the proposed route which oppose high-speed rail, filed an amicus brief in support of the challenge to the project.


On July 16, 2020, the federal Surface Transportation Board ruled that Texas Central Railroad is part of the interstate rail network based on its through-ticketing with Amtrak, and therefore subject to the STB's jurisdiction.


The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (Public Law 102-240; ISTEA, pronounced "Ice-Tea") is a United States federal law that posed a major change to transportation planning and policy, as the first U.S. federal legislation on the subject in the post-Interstate Highway System era.


The Act presented an overall intermodal approach to highway and transit funding with collaborative planning requirements, giving significant additional powers to metropolitan planning organizations. Signed into law on December 18, 1991 by President George H. W. Bush, it expired in 1997. It was preceded by the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987 and followed by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) in 1998, the (SAFETEA-LU) in 2005, and the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) in 2012. ISTEA also provided funds for the conversion of dormant railroad corridors into rail trails; the first trail to be so funded was the Cedar Lake Regional Rail Trail, built in 1995 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.


ISTEA §1105 defined a number of High Priority Corridors, to be part of the National Highway System. After various amendments from other laws, this is a list of the Corridors:


The legislation also called for the designation of up to five high-speed rail corridors. The options were studied for several months, and announced in October 1992. The first four were announced by United States Secretary of Transportation Andrew Card, while the last was announced by Federal Railroad Administration head Gil Carmichael.


However, there was not significant funding attached to these announcements: $30 million had been allocated to several states by 1997 to improve grade crossings, but that was a very tiny amount in comparison to the billions required for a true high-speed network. Aside from a few places in California and the Chicago–Detroit Line, most areas outside the Northeast Corridor continued to be limited to until $8 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was distributed in January 2010.


Jeff Morales one of the principal drafters of this bill, is currently serving as CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which is currently constructing a high-speed rail line along the route originally proposed in this bill.


The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 also mandated that passenger automobiles and light trucks built after September 1, 1998 to have airbags installed as standard equipment for the driver and the right front passenger.


The Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority (NHSRA) is a Nevada state agency established pursuant to the Nevada High-Speed Rail Act (S.B. 457) to develop and implement high-speed intercity rail service, such as the Brightline West project, and to find contractors to build the line. The bill was first introduced on April 7, 2015, and was passed into law on May 20, 2015, by a vote of 40–1.