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Battery Gunnison, a US Army Coast Artillery Battery at Fort Hancock, New Jersey, is being restored to its 1943 configuration by the Army Ground Forces Association, a non-profit living history organization, and is open for tours throughout the year.
The term outlaw, or outlawed refers to a crew (or train) which can no longer move because the crew has reached the maximum number of hours they are allowed to work, thereby outlawing their controlling the further movement of any train. All they may do is be relieved or deadhead to a "home terminal" (such as the place where they came on duty near their point of residence) or an "away from home terminal" (such as an approved hotel) to begin a period of rest.
In the United States railroad employees who are involved in the movement of trains are governed by the Hours of Service Act. The legislation is related to similar regulations which apply to other modes of transportation, but with significantly different specific limitations. The Act, which is administered by the Federal Railroad Administration, covers "train employees" (49 U.S.C. § 21103), "signal employees" (49 U.S.C. § 21104) and "dispatching service employees." (49 U.S.C. § 21105), as defined by the statute (49 U.S.C. § 21101).
This act is in place and in effect to ensure said employees receive "sufficient periods of rest" to ensure that they can perform their jobs safely. The law also specifies how many hours employees may work, both continuously and with a period of off time (called swing time) which is differentiated as being too short to be considered a period of rest. The affected employees include Dispatchers, Conductors, Engineers and more.
The Official Guide of the Railways, now known as the Official Railway Guide, was originally produced by National Railway Publication Company of New York City, beginning in 1868. The modern Official Railway Guide provides routing and shipping information for freight on United States railroads and is now published by the RailResource division of JOC (formerly Journal of Commerce).
The "Official Guide" also included some high priority freight schedules, system maps, listing of company officers, an index of all railroad stations, industry news briefs and personnel changes, rosters of key railroad officials, and new passenger train announcements, along with steamship schedules.
Other related publications produced by National Railway Publication Company and its affiliates included the "Pocket List of Railroad Officials" and freight equipment listings.
With the decline of long-distance passenger service in the U.S. during the 1950s–1960s and the eventual demise of passenger service by most individual railroads at the inception of Amtrak on May 1, 1971, the need for a monthly rail passenger "Official Guide" diminished considerably. In the years after Amtrak was established the "Official Guide" was split into separate freight and passenger editions, with the passenger edition being discontinued in 1974.
Some of the publications by the National Railway Publishing Company were eventually acquired by UBM Global Trade (then known as Commonwealth Business Media), which in turn became a division of United Business Media. United Business Media, a United Kingdom-based firm, provides business information services principally to the technology, healthcare, media, automotive, and financial services industries. With the resurgence of rail freight in the U.S. since the 1990s, the quarterly "Official Railway Guide" is used by transportation and logistics managers for routing and shipping information. UBM sold the majority of its data business to Electra Partners in 2013, who formed AXIO Data Group, which was then sold to IHS in 2014
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a passenger railroad service that provides medium and long-distance intercity service in the contiguous United States and to nine Canadian cities.
Founded in 1971 as a quasi-public corporation to operate many U.S. passenger rail routes, Amtrak receives a combination of state and federal subsidies but is managed as a for-profit organization. The United States federal government through the Secretary of Transportation owns all the company's issued and outstanding preferred stock. Amtrak's headquarters is located one block west of Union Station in Washington, D.C.
Amtrak serves more than 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces, operating more than 300 trains daily over of track. Amtrak owns approximately 623 miles of this track and operates an additional 132 miles of track. Some track sections allow trains to run as fast as .
In fiscal year 2018, Amtrak served 31.7 million passengers and had $3.4 billion in revenue, while employing more than 20,000 people. Nearly 87,000 passengers ride more than 300 Amtrak trains daily. Nearly two-thirds of passengers come from the 10 largest metropolitan areas; 83% of passengers travel on routes shorter than .
The name "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "trak", the latter itself a sensational spelling of "track".
In 1916, 98% of all commercial intercity travelers in the United States moved by rail, and the remaining 2% moved by inland waterways. Nearly 42 million passengers used railways as primary transportation. Passenger trains were owned and operated by the same privately owned companies that operated freight trains. As the 20th century progressed, patronage declined in the face of competition from buses, air travel, and the car. New streamlined diesel-powered trains such as the "Pioneer Zephyr" were popular with the traveling public but could not reverse the trend. By 1940, railroads held 67 percent of commercial passenger-miles in the United States. In real terms, passenger-miles had fallen by 40% since 1916, from 42 billion to 25 billion.
Traffic surged during World War II, which was aided by troop movement and gasoline rationing. The railroad's market share surged to 74% in 1945, with a massive 94 billion passenger-miles. After the war, railroads rejuvenated their overworked and neglected passenger fleets with fast and luxurious streamliners. These new trains brought only temporary relief to the overall decline. Even as postwar travel exploded, passenger travel percentages of the overall market share fell to 46% by 1950, and then 32% by 1957. The railroads had lost money on passenger service since the Great Depression, but deficits reached $723 million in 1957. For many railroads, these losses threatened financial viability.
The causes of this decline were heavily debated. The National Highway System and airports, both funded by the government, competed directly with the railroads, which paid for their own infrastructure. American car culture was also on the rise in the post-World War II years. Progressive Era rate regulation limited the railroad's ability to turn a profit. Railroads also faced antiquated work rules and inflexible relationships with trade unions. To take one example, workers continued to receive a day's pay for workdays. Streamliners covered that in two hours.
Matters approached a crisis in the 1960s. Passenger service route-miles fell from in 1958 to in 1970, the last full year of private operation. The diversion of most United States Post Office Department mail from passenger trains to trucks, airplanes, and freight trains in late 1967 deprived those trains of badly needed revenue. In direct response, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway filed to discontinue 33 of its remaining 39 trains, ending almost all passenger service on one of the largest railroads in the country. The equipment the railroads had ordered after World War II was now 20 years old, worn out, and in need of replacement.
In October 1970, Congress passed, and President Richard Nixon signed into law, the Rail Passenger Service Act. Proponents of the bill, led by the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP), sought government funding to ensure the continuation of passenger trains. They conceived the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (NRPC), a private entity that would receive taxpayer funding and assume operation of intercity passenger trains. The original working brand name for NRPC was Railpax, but less than two weeks before operations began, the official marketing name was changed to Amtrak. There were several key provisions:
Amtrak began operations on May 1, 1971. Amtrak received no rail tracks or rights-of-way at its inception. All Amtrak's routes were continuations of prior service, although Amtrak pruned about half the passenger rail network. Of the 366 train routes that operated previously, Amtrak only continued 184. On the routes that were continued (to the extent possible), schedules were retained with only minor changes from the "Official Guide of the Railways" and under the same names. Several major corridors became freight-only, including the ex-New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from New York to Ohio and Grand Trunk Western Railroad's Chicago to Detroit route. Reduced passenger train schedules created headaches. A 19-hour layover became necessary for eastbound travel on the "James Whitcomb Riley" between Chicago and Newport News.
In its first decade, Amtrak fell far short of financial independence, which continues today, but it did find modest success rebuilding trade. Outside factors discouraged competing transport, such as fuel shortages which increased costs of automobile and airline travel, and strikes which disrupted airline operations. Investments in Amtrak's track, equipment and information also made Amtrak more relevant to America's transportation needs. Amtrak's ridership increased from 16.6 million in 1972 to 21 million in 1981.
In 1982, former Secretary of the Navy and retired Southern Railway head William Graham Claytor Jr. came out of retirement to lead Amtrak. Despite frequent clashes with the Reagan administration over funding, Claytor enjoyed a good relationship with John H. Riley, the head of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and with members of Congress. Limited funding led Claytor to use short-term debt to fund operations.
Building on mechanical developments in the 1970s, high-speed Washington–New York Metroliner Service was improved with new equipment and faster schedules. Travel time between New York and Washington, D.C. was reduced to under 3 hours. According to the 1980 Amtrak Annual Report, a converted 12-car set saved the company approximately $250,000 a year in fuel, maintenance and yard support costs. Amtrak completed the head-end power conversion program in 1982. Demand for passenger rail service resulted in the creation of five new state-supported routes in California, Illinois, Missouri, Oregon and Pennsylvania, for a total of 15 state-supported routes across the nation.
Ridership stagnated at roughly 20 million passengers per year amid uncertain government aid from 1981 to about 2000. Thomas Downs succeeded Claytor in 1993. Amtrak's stated goal remained "operational self-sufficiency". By this time, however, Amtrak had a large overhang of debt from years of underfunding, and in the mid-1990s, Amtrak suffered through a serious cash crunch. Under Downs, Congress included a provision in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 that resulted in Amtrak receiving a $2.3 billion tax refund that resolved their cash crisis. However, Congress also instituted a "glide-path" to financial self-sufficiency, excluding railroad retirement tax act payments.
George Warrington became president in 1998 with a mandate to make Amtrak financially self-sufficient. Passengers became "guests" and there were expansions into express freight work, but the financial plans failed. Amtrak's inroads in express freight delivery created additional friction with competing freight operators, including the trucking industry. Delivery was delayed of much anticipated high-speed trainsets for the improved "Acela Express" service, which promised to be a strong source of income and favorable publicity along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, D.C.
Joseph H. Boardman replaced Kummant as president and CEO in late 2008.
In 2011, Amtrak announced its intention to improve and expand the high-speed rail corridor from Penn Station in NYC, under the Hudson River in new tunnels, and double-tracking the line to Newark, NJ called the Gateway Program, initially estimated to cost $13.5 billion.
On December 9, 2015, Boardman announced in a letter to employees that he would be leaving Amtrak in September 2016. He had advised the Amtrak Board of Directors of his decision the previous week. On August 19, 2016, the Amtrak Board of Directors named former Norfolk Southern Railway President & CEO Charles "Wick" Moorman as Boardman's successor with an effective date of September 1, 2016. During his term, Moorman took no salary and said that he saw his role as one of a "transitional CEO" who would reorganize Amtrak before turning it over to new leadership.
In June 2017, it was announced that former Delta and Northwest Airlines CEO Richard Anderson would become Amtrak's next President & CEO. Anderson began the job on July 12, assuming the title of President immediately and serving alongside Moorman as "co-CEOs" until the end of the year. On April 15, 2020, Atlas Air Chairman, President and CEO William Flynn was named Amtrak President and CEO. In addition to Atlas Air, Flynn has held senior roles at CSX Transportation, SeaLand Services and GeoLogistics Corp. Anderson will remain with Amtrak as a senior advisor until December 2020.
As Amtrak approached profitability in 2020, the company undertook planning to expand and create new intermediate-distance corridors across the country. Included were several new services in Ohio, Tennessee, Colorado, and Minnesota, among other states.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Amtrak continued operating as an essential service. It started requiring face coverings the week of May 17, and limited sales to 50% of capacity. Most long-distance routes were reduced to three weekly round trips in October 2020.
In March 2021, following President Joe Biden's American Jobs Plan announcement, Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn outlined a proposal called Amtrak Connects US that would expand state-supported intercity corridors with an infusion of upfront capital assistance. Also in March 2021, Amtrak announced plans to return 12 of its long-distance routes to daily schedules later in the spring.
Service on the Northeast Corridor, between Boston, and Washington, D.C., as well as between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, is powered by overhead electric wires; for the rest of the system, diesel locomotives are used. Routes vary widely in the frequency of service, from three-days-a-week trains on the "Sunset Limited" to weekday service several times per hour on the Northeast Corridor (NEC). Amtrak also operates a captive bus service, Thruway Motorcoach, which provides connections to train routes.
Four of the six busiest stations by boardings are on the NEC: New York (Penn Station) (first), Washington (Union Station) (second), Philadelphia (30th Street Station) (third), and Boston (South Station) (fifth). The other two are Chicago (Union Station) (fourth) and Los Angeles (Union Station) (sixth).
Per passenger mile, Amtrak is 30–40 percent more energy-efficient than commercial airlines and automobiles overall, though the exact figures for particular routes depend on load factor along with other variables. The electrified trains in the NEC are considerably more efficient than Amtrak's diesels and can feed energy captured from regenerative braking back to the electrical grid. Passenger rail is also very competitive with other modes in terms of safety per mile.
On-time performance is calculated differently for airlines than for Amtrak. A plane is considered on-time if it arrives within 15 minutes of the schedule. Amtrak uses a sliding scale, with trips under considered late if they are more than 10 minutes behind schedule, up to 30 minutes for trips over in length.
In 2005, Amtrak's carbon dioxide equivalent emissions were 0.411 lbs/mi (0.116 kg per km). For comparison, this is similar to a car with two people, about twice as high as the UK rail average (where more of the system is electrified), about four times the average US motorcoach, and about eight times a Finnish electric intercity train or fully loaded fifty-seat coach. It is, however, about two thirds of the raw CO2-equivalent emissions of a long-distance domestic flight.
Intermodal connections between Amtrak trains and other transportation are available at many stations. Most Amtrak rail stations in downtown areas have connections to local public transport. Amtrak also code shares with United Airlines, providing service between Newark Liberty International Airport (via its Amtrak station and AirTrain Newark) and Philadelphia 30th St, Wilmington, Stamford, and New Haven. Special codes are used to designate these intermodal routes, such as "ZVE" to designate the combination of New Haven's Union Station and Newark International Airport and the Amtrak connection between them. Amtrak also serves airport stations at Milwaukee, Oakland, Burbank, and Baltimore.
Amtrak coordinates Thruway Motorcoach service to extend many of its routes, especially in California.
Amtrak carried 15,848,327 passengers in 1972, its first full year of operation. Ridership has increased steadily ever since, carrying a record 32.0 million passengers in fiscal year 2019, more than double the total in 1972. For the fiscal year ending on September 30, 2020, Amtrak reported 16.8 million passengers, with the decline resulting from effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amtrak's loyalty program, Guest Rewards, is similar to the frequent-flyer programs of many airlines. Guest Rewards members accumulate points by riding Amtrak and through other activities, and can redeem these points for free Amtrak tickets and other rewards.
Through various commuter services, Amtrak serves an additional 61.1 million passengers per year in conjunction with state and regional authorities in California (through Amtrak California and Metrolink), Connecticut (through Shore Line East), and Maryland (through MARC). Sometimes, Amtrak will share trackage rights with independent commuter services. Examples include California (through Caltrain), and Illinois (through Metra).
Along the NEC and in several other areas, Amtrak owns including 17 tunnels consisting of of track, and 1,186 bridges (including the famous Hell Gate Bridge) consisting of of track. In several places, primarily in New England, Amtrak leases tracks, providing track maintenance and controlling train movements. Most often, these tracks are leased from state, regional, or local governments. Amtrak owns and operates the following lines:
In addition to these lines, Amtrak owns station and yard tracks in Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Oakland (Kirkham Street Yard), Orlando, Portland, Oregon, Saint Paul, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Amtrak leases station and yard tracks in Hialeah, near Miami, Florida, from the State of Florida.
Amtrak owns New York Penn Station, Philadelphia 30th Street Station, Baltimore Penn Station and Providence Station. It also owns Chicago Union Station through a wholly owned subsidiary, the Chicago Union Station Company. Through the Washington Terminal Company, in which it owns a 99.7 percent interest, it owns the rail infrastructure around Washington Union Station. It holds a 99% interest in 30th Street Limited, a partnership responsible for redeveloping the area in and around 30th Street Station. Amtrak also owns Passenger Railroad Insurance.
Amtrak owns 2,142 railway cars and 425 locomotives for revenue runs and service. Examples include the GE P42DC diesel locomotive, the Siemens Charger, the Siemens ACS-64 electric locomotive, the Amfleet car, and the Superliner car. Occasionally private cars or loaned locomotives from other railroads can be found on Amtrak trains.
Amtrak offers four classes of service: First Class, Sleeper Service, Business Class, and Coach Class:
Amtrak launched an e-ticketing system on the "Downeaster" in November 2011 and rolled it out nationwide on July 30, 2012. Amtrak officials said the system gives "more accurate knowledge in realtime of who is on the train which greatly improves the safety and security of passengers; en route reporting of onboard equipment problems to mechanical crews which may result in faster resolution of the issue; and more efficient financial reporting".
Amtrak first offered free Wi-Fi service to passengers aboard the "Downeaster" in 2008, the "Acela Express" and the "Northeast Regional" trains on the NEC in 2010, and the "Amtrak Cascades" in 2011. In February 2014, Amtrak rolled out Wi-Fi on corridor trains out of Chicago. When all the Midwest cars offer the AmtrakConnect service, about 85% of all Amtrak passengers nationwide will have Wi-Fi access. , most Amtrak passengers have access to free Wi-Fi. The service has developed a reputation for being unreliable and slow due to its cellular network connection; on some routes it is usually unusable, either freezing on the login page or, if it manages to log in, failing to provide any internet bandwidth.
Amtrak allows carry-on baggage on all routes; services with baggage cars allow checked baggage at selected stations. With the passage of the Wicker Amendment in 2010 passengers are allowed to put lawfully owned, unloaded firearms in checked Amtrak baggage, reversing a decade-long ban on such carriage.
The Amtrak Express cargo service provides small-package and less-than-truckload shipping between most Amtrak stations that handle checked baggage (over 100 cities). Cargo travels alongside checked luggage in baggage cars. Service and hours vary by station, limited by available equipment and staffing. Nearly all stations with checked baggage service can handle small packages, while large stations with forklifts can handle palletized shipments. Amtrak Express also offers station-to-station shipment of human remains to many cities.
In the modern era, Amtrak faces a number of important labor issues. In the area of pension funding, because of limitations originally imposed by Congress, most Amtrak workers were traditionally classified as "railroad employees" and contributions to the Railroad Retirement system have been made for those employees. However, because the size of the contributions is determined on an industry-wide basis rather than with reference to the employer for whom the employees work, some critics, such as the National Association of Railroad Passengers, maintain that Amtrak is subsidizing freight railroad pensions by as much as US$150 million/year.
In recent times, efforts at reforming passenger rail have addressed labor issues. In 1997 Congress released Amtrak from a prohibition on contracting for labor outside the corporation (and outside its unions), opening the door to privatization. Since that time, many of Amtrak's employees have been working without a contract. The most recent contract, signed in 1999, was mainly retroactive.
Because of the fragmentation of railroad unions by job, Amtrak has 14 separate unions to negotiate with. Plus, it has 24 separate contracts with those unions. This makes it difficult to make substantial changes, in contrast to a situation where one union negotiates with one employer. Former Amtrak president Kummant followed a cooperative posture with Amtrak's trade unions, ruling out plans to privatize large parts of Amtrak's unionized workforce.
Amtrak receives annual appropriations from federal and state governments to supplement operating and capital programs.
State governments have partially filled the breach left by reductions in federal aid. Several states have entered into operating partnerships with Amtrak, notably California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Oregon, Missouri, Washington, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin, Vermont, Maine, and New York, as well as the Canadian province of British Columbia, which provides some of the resources for the operation of the "Cascades" route.
With the dramatic rise in gasoline prices during 2007–08, Amtrak saw record ridership. Capping a steady five-year increase in ridership overall, regional lines saw 12% year-over-year growth in May 2008. In October 2007, the Senate passed S-294, "Passenger Rail Improvement and Investment Act of 2007" (70–22) sponsored by Senators Frank Lautenberg and Trent Lott. Despite a veto threat by President Bush, a similar bill passed the House on June 11, 2008, with a veto-proof margin (311–104). The final bill, spurred on by the September 12 Metrolink collision in California and retitled "Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008", was signed into law by President Bush on October 16, 2008. The bill appropriates $2.6 billion a year in Amtrak funding through 2013.
Amtrak points out that in 2010, its farebox recovery (percentage of operating costs covered by revenues generated by passenger fares) was 79%, the highest reported for any U.S. passenger railroad. This increased to 94.9% in 2018.
In Fiscal Year 2011, the U.S. Congress granted Amtrak $563 million for operating and $922 million for capital programs.
Government aid to Amtrak was controversial from the beginning. The formation of Amtrak in 1971 was criticized as a bailout serving corporate rail interests and union railroaders, not the traveling public. Critics have asserted that Amtrak has proven incapable of operating as a business and that it does not provide valuable transportation services meriting public support, a "mobile money-burning machine". Many fiscal conservatives have argued that subsidies should be ended, national rail service terminated, and the NEC turned over to private interests. "To fund a "Nostalgia Limited" is not in the public interest." Critics also question Amtrak's energy efficiency, though the U.S. Department of Energy considers Amtrak among the most energy-efficient forms of transportation.
The Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, which established Amtrak, specifically states that, "The Corporation will not be an agency or establishment of the United States Government". Then common stock was issued in 1971 to railroads that contributed capital and equipment; these shares convey almost no benefits, but their holders declined a 2002 buy-out offer by Amtrak. There are currently 109,396,994 shares of preferred stock, at a par value of $100 per share, all held by the US government. There are 9,385,694 shares of common stock, with a par value of $10 per share, held by four other railroad companies: APU (formerly Penn Central) 53%, BNSF (35%), Canadian Pacific (7%), and Canadian National (5%).
The following are major accidents and incidents that involved Amtrak trains:
After settling for $17 million in the 2017 Washington state train crash, to prevent further lawsuits, the board adopted a new policy requiring arbitration.
Bell codes or Buzzer codes (US Communication Signal Appliance codes) are a series of bells or buzzers used on passenger trains for communication between the driver and guard.
All codes, except 3—2—1, must be acknowledged by repeating the code received.
In the United States, these are known as Communication Signal Appliance codes.
Line 1, formerly Central Link, is a light rail line in Seattle, Washington, United States, and part of Sound Transit's Link light rail system. It serves 16 stations in the cities of Seattle, SeaTac, and Tukwila, traveling between and stations. The line connects the University District, Downtown Seattle, the Rainier Valley, and Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. Line 1 carried over 25 million total passengers in 2019, with an average of nearly 80,000 daily passengers on weekdays. It runs for 20 hours per day on weekdays and Saturdays, with headways of up to six minutes during peak hours, and reduced 18-hour service on Sundays and holidays.
Trains are composed of two or more cars that each can carry 194 passengers, including 74 in seats, along with wheelchairs and bicycles. Fares are calculated based on distance traveled and are paid through the regional ORCA card, paper tickets, or a mobile app. Sound Transit uses proof-of-payment to verify passenger fares, employing fare inspectors and transit police to conduct random inspections. All stations have ticket vending machines, public art, bicycle parking, and bus connections, while several also have park-and-ride lots.
Voters approved Central Link in a 1996 ballot measure and construction began in 2003, after the project was reorganized under a new budget and truncated route in response to higher than expected costs. The light rail line, which followed decades of failed transit plans for the Seattle region, opened on July 18, 2009, terminating at in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel and near Sea–Tac Airport. It was extended south to in December 2009, north to the University of Washington in March 2016, and south to Angle Lake in September 2016. The line was temporarily renamed the Red Line until its designation was changed to Line 1 in 2020. It is scheduled to be extended north to in 2021.
Further extensions to Lynnwood and Federal Way are planned to open in 2024. Line 2 will open in 2023, connecting Seattle to the Eastside suburbs and forming a multi-line network via its connection with Line 1. Further expansion under Sound Transit 3 will divide the current corridor between two lines, Line 1 from Ballard to Tacoma and Line 3 from Everett to West Seattle.
Public transit service within Seattle began in 1884, with the introduction of the city's first horse-drawn streetcar line. The system had been replaced with a network of electric streetcars and cable cars by the end of the decade, which spurred the development of new streetcar suburbs across modern-day Seattle. Interurban railways to Everett, Tacoma, and the Rainier Valley were established after the turn of the century, giving the region an intercity passenger rail system to feed the streetcar lines. The interurban system failed to compete with the increasing popularity of automobile travel, capped by the completion of U.S. Route 99 in the late 1920s, and was shut down. By 1941, the streetcars had also been acquired by the municipal government and replaced with a trolleybus network.
Sound Transit received its $500 million federal grant agreement in October 2003, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held in SoDo on November 8, 2003. Construction contracts for various segments were awarded in 2004 and 2005, coming six percent under Sound Transit's estimates, and work began along all parts of the system. The first rails were installed on August 18, 2005, in the SoDo area; a month later, the downtown transit tunnel closed for a two-year renovation to accommodate light rail service. Excavation of the Beacon Hill tunnel and station began in 2005, and two tunnel boring machines were launched in early 2006 to bore the twin tunnels between SoDo and the Rainier Valley.
Central Link train service was increased to a frequency of 6 minutes during peak hours, from 7.5 minutes, in 2015 to prepare for the opening of the University Link extension. The line was extended north to University of Washington station, via Capitol Hill station, on March 19, 2016, via a $1.8 billion, tunnel. The extension opened six months ahead of its scheduled date, and the opening celebrations drew 67,000 people during the first day of service. Sound Transit deployed additional three-car light rail trains to cope with higher ridership after the extension opened. The line was extended south from Sea-Tac Airport to Angle Lake station on September 24, 2016, including the opening of a 1,120-stall park and ride.
The downtown transit tunnel, formerly shared between light rail trains and buses, travels west under Pine Street through Westlake station and south on 3rd Avenue through University Street and Pioneer Square stations in Downtown Seattle. The tunnel ends at International District/Chinatown station, adjacent to King Street Station (served by Amtrak and Sounder commuter rail), and Line 1 travels south through SoDo along the east side of the SODO Busway. The SoDo section has two stations, Stadium and SODO, and includes several gated crossings. From SODO station, the track ascends to an elevated guideway traveling east along South Forest Street, passing the line's railyard and maintenance facility. The elevated trackway passes over Airport Way and comes to rest on an embankment under Interstate 5, entering the Beacon Hill tunnel.
The Beacon Hill tunnel travels approximately under Beacon Hill, serving a station at Beacon Avenue South. Trains exit the tunnel on the east side of the hill, turning southeast and approaching the elevated Mount Baker station at the intersection of Rainier Avenue South and Martin Luther King Jr. Way South. Light rail trains descend from Mount Baker station onto the median of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, running at-grade with signal priority at 28 street crossings. Line 1 passes through the Rainier Valley and serves three at-grade stations, , , and , before leaving Seattle.
The line enters Tukwila and crosses west over Interstate 5 and a mainline railroad at Boeing Access Road, near Boeing Field, before making a southward turn over East Marginal Way South. Line 1 continues south over the Duwamish River, traveling non-stop through Tukwila on a elevated guideway. The guideway runs along the west sides of State Route 599 and Interstate 5 towards Southcenter Mall, where it turns west along State Route 518. The line passes through Tukwila International Boulevard station, home to a 600-stall park and ride facility, and turns south into the median of the Airport Expressway towards SeaTac. Light rail trains continue along the east side of Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, stopping at SeaTac/Airport station near the airport's terminals, before reaching Angle Lake station, where it terminates.
Line 1, while officially a "light rail" line, has also been described as a "light metro" hybrid by transit experts due to its grade separated sections and use of larger trainsets than typical American light rail systems. Approximately of the line is at-grade, including segments along freeways that are separated from intersecting roads.
Stations on Line 1 are spaced approximately apart in most areas and are built with platforms to accommodate four-car train sets. Some stations are grade separated, with underground or elevated platforms connected to surface entrances by stairs, escalators, and elevators, while others were built at street level. The line's sixteen stations include bus connections, ticket vending machines, real-time arrivals information signs, public art, and bicycle parking. Stations are also designed with clear sight lines on platforms, emergency phones and lights, and are monitored with surveillance cameras.
, there are only two stations with park and ride facilities (Angle Lake and Tukwila International Boulevard); for other stations, Sound Transit and local governments are encouraging alternative means of transportation to and from stations, including bus riding, walking, or bicycling. Since 2019, a set of five stations in the Rainier Valley and Tukwila have had on-demand ride-hail shuttle service that accepts Metro fares and is operated by private contractor Via with subsidies from the city government.
Line 1 trains run 20 hours per day from Monday to Saturday, from 5:00 am to 1:00 am, and 18 hours on Sundays and federal holidays, from 6:00 am to midnight. Trains operate most frequently during weekday peak periods, running every six minutes from 6:00 am to 9:30 am and from 3:00 pm to 6:30 pm. Trains run every 10 minutes during midday and evening hours on weekdays and all day on weekends. Train frequency is reduced to every 15 minutes during the early morning and late night hours of all days.
End-to-end travel from University of Washington to Angle Lake stations takes 48 minutes, while trips between SeaTac/Airport station and Downtown Seattle take 38 minutes. The SeaTac–Westlake corridor was formerly served by King County Metro bus route 194, which took 32 minutes to travel between the two areas, and used bus stops that were closer to the terminal. The bus route ran at less frequent intervals, was subject to traffic delays, and had shorter hours of operation.
Line 1 trains carried over 25 million total passengers in 2019, averaging 79,674 riders on weekdays. Ridership is measured by on-board infrared passenger counters that automatically record the number of people entering and leaving the train.
Ridership on Line 1 has risen significantly from the beginning of service in 2009, when it averaged 15,500 per weekday. In 2010, ridership fell below projected levels due to the ongoing economic downturn, with only 21,611 daily riders on the line. Ridership increased significantly in the following years, surpassing 25,000 daily riders in 2012, 30,000 in 2014, and 35,000 in 2015.
The opening of the University Link extension in March 2016 increased daily ridership by 66 percent in its first month of operation, and averaged 66,203 daily riders during the last quarter of the year. A single-day ridership record of 82,361 estimated boardings was set on April 8, 2016, credited to a Seattle Mariners home opener and the Emerald City Comic Con. The record was surpassed five months later on September 30, estimated at 101,000 riders, due in part to home games for the Washington Huskies football team and Seattle Mariners. Ridership fell to 9.7 million total passengers in 2020, a decline of 61 percent from 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other service reductions.
Line 1 uses a proof-of-payment system, requiring valid payment before boarding and lacking a turnstile barrier at stations. Fares can be purchased as paper tickets at ticket vending machines at stations, credit or passes loaded on an ORCA card, or through a mobile ticketing app. Fare inspectors and transit police officers check for valid fares while aboard trains or in the fare-paid zone of stations; warnings and a $124 citation are issued to passengers who do not present a valid ticket or a validated ORCA card.
Fares are calculated based on distance traveled, ranging from $2.25 to $3.25 for adults. ORCA card users are required to tap a reader before and after riding a train to calculate the fare. Reduced fares are available to elderly passengers, persons with disabilities, persons under the age of 18, and low-income passengers enrolled in ORCA Lift. Transfers from other modes, including buses, water taxis, and streetcars, are only accepted using ORCA cards.
In September 2016, Sound Transit approved a $554 million order to Siemens Mobility for 122 S700 "Series 2" light rail vehicles that will serve planned extensions to Northgate, Lynnwood, the Eastside, and Federal Way. Another 30 vehicles were added to the order in April 2017, bringing the total to 152 vehicles. The first Series 2 car arrived at Sound Transit's maintenance facility in June 2019, featuring the same seating capacity but a wider central walkway and other new features. The first Siemens cars entered service on May 14, 2021. A satellite maintenance facility, with a capacity of 96 vehicles, is planned to be constructed in Bellevue to accommodate part of the new fleet.
Sound Transit's expansion ballot measures, passed as Sound Transit 2 in 2008 and Sound Transit 3 in 2016, enabled the planning of future Link light rail extensions, scheduled to open in stages between 2021 and 2040. The Northgate Link extension is scheduled to open on October 2, 2021, extending service north to Northgate Transit Center, followed by the East Link Extension in 2023, creating a new line to Bellevue and Redmond. During construction related to East Link in early 2020, trains within the downtown transit tunnel were temporarily limited to single-track operations and divided into two lines at Pioneer Square station.
The Red Line is a rapid transit line in the MARTA rail system. It operates between North Springs and Airport stations, running through Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Atlanta, East Point and College Park.
The Red Line was originally called the North-South Line until MARTA switched to a color-based naming system in October 2009. The North-South Line, from its launch, was considered one line, denoted with an orange color on old system maps until 2006 when the North Branch and the Northeast branch were redesignated as the North-South Line (the current Red Line) and the Northeast-South Line (the current Gold Line). Using the Five Points station as a reference point, the North Line was designated for trips headed for North Springs, and the South Line was designated for trips headed for the Airport.
Now known as the Red Line, it shares trackage with its counterpart, the Gold Line, between Airport and just north of the Lindbergh Center.
On weekdays, after 8:30 pm, Red Line shuttle train service operates between North Springs and Lindbergh Center stations only until the end of the service. On Saturdays and Sundays, Red Line shuttle train service operates between North Springs and Lindbergh Center stations only from 8:50 pm until the end of the service. When major single tracking occurs, Red Line train service operates between North Springs and Lindbergh Center stations only.
AirTrain Newark is a 3-mile (4.8 km) monorail system connecting the terminals at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and trains at Newark Liberty International Airport Station on the Northeast Corridor (NEC), where transfers are possible to Amtrak and New Jersey Transit's Northeast Corridor Line and North Jersey Coast Line. The monorail opened in 1996, and , is planned to be replaced.
The monorail opened in 1996 and initially served only as an airport circulator, a service which allows passengers to transfer between airport terminals or concourses. The monorail track was refurbished and extended to the NEC, with construction beginning in 1997. The system reopened for service on October 21, 2000. When first opened in 1996 a fleet of 12 six-car Bombardier trains ran on the network. It has expanded to 18 six-car trains.
The contract to build the system was awarded to Von Roll AG, but the project was finished by Adtranz, who acquired Von Roll's monorail division while the system was being built. Adtranz was later acquired by Bombardier Transportation, who continues to operate the AirTrain under contract to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the operator of the airport.
AirTrain service was suspended from May 1, 2014, for 75 days, until mid-July, to allow repairs. Repairs were completed early, and the service re-opened on July 3.
The system has a projected lifespan of 25 years. In April 2015, the PANYNJ suggested that initial work to replace the system would cost $40 million in consultant and engineering studies. In 2017, the Port Authority decided to include the then $1.7 Billion PATH extension in their 2017 10-year capital plan to Newark Liberty Rail Link Station, while the air train was given $300 million for maintenance and repairs.
However, in January 2019, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced a plan for a $2 billion replacement project for the Newark AirTrain. Murphy has stated that replacement is necessary because the system is reaching the end of its projected 25-year life and is subject to persistent delays and breakdowns. The Port Authority would be responsible for funding the project. In October 2019, the Port Authority board approved the replacement project with an estimated cost of $2.05 billion. Construction is expected to start in 2021 and be completed in 2024.
A draft environmental impact statement was completed in February 2021 when the proposed opening date was shifted to 2026.
The train is free, except to and from the Amtrak/New Jersey Transit station. In that case, the fare is included in the price of the train ticket. New Jersey Transit and Amtrak monthly pass holders must pay an extra $7.75 to ride AirTrain, unless they set EWR as the origin or destination stop for their pass.