List of United States commuter rail systems

The following is a list of commuter rail systems in the United States, ranked by ridership. All figures come from the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) Ridership Reports Statistics for the fourth quarter of 2023,[1] unless otherwise indicated.

List edit

Rank System Major cities
served
Annual
Ridership
(2023)[1]
Average
Weekday
Ridership
(Q1 2023)[2]
Route
miles
Daily Ridership
per mile
(Q1 2023)
Year
Opened
Lines Stations
1 Long Island Rail Road New York 75,186,900 253,800 321[3] 791 1834[4] 11[4] 124[4]
2 Metro-North Railroad New York / Stamford / New Haven 60,569,700 189,500 385[5] 492 1983[6] 5[5][note 1] 122[5]
3 NJ Transit Rail Operations New York / Newark / Trenton / Philadelphia 57,179,000 140,666 [note 2] 530[7] 265 1983[8] 11[9][note 1] 164[9]
4 Metra Chicago 31,894,900 116,200 487.5[10] 238 1984 11[10] 241[10]
5 MBTA Commuter Rail Boston / Worcester / Providence 26,190,500 81,800 388[11] 220 1973 13[11] 127[11]
6 SEPTA Regional Rail Philadelphia / Trenton / Wilmington 19,296,500 48,491 [note 2] 280[12] 173 1983 13[12] 153
7 Denver RTD:
A, B, N and G Lines
Denver 8,559,700 19,850 [note 2] 40[13] 496 2016 4 20
8 Caltrain San Francisco / San Jose 5,443,800 16,000 77[14] 207 1987 1 32[14]
9 Metrolink Los Angeles / Anaheim / Riverside / Irvine 4,861,000 15,400 388[15] 39 1992 7[15] 62[15]

>

10 Tri-Rail Miami / Fort Lauderdale 3,980,600 13,000 70.9[16] 183 1987 2[16] 19[16]
11 FrontRunner Salt Lake City 3,736,600 12,300 88 140 2008 1 16
12 MARC Train Baltimore / Washington, D.C. 3,680,600 11,800 187 63 1984 3 43
13 Sounder commuter rail Seattle / Tacoma 1,630,000 5,100 83[17] 61 2000 2 9
14 Virginia Railway Express Washington, D.C. 1,172,700 6,200 90[18] 60 1992 2[18] 18[18]
15 NICTD South Shore Line Chicago / South Bend 1,526,700 4,600[note 3] 90[19] 51 1903 1 20
16 eBART Contra Costa County, California 1,292,200 4,400 10.1 435 2018 1 3
17 Trinity Railway Express Dallas / Fort Worth 1,089,800 3,800 34 112 1996 1 10
18 SunRail Orlando 919,600 4,300 49[20] 88 2014 1 16[20]
19 Keystone Service Philadelphia / Harrisburg 889,900 3,200 [note 3] 104.6 31 1972 1 12
20 NCTD Coaster San Diego / Oceanside 735,100 2,000 41[21] 49 1995[21] 1[21] 8[21]
21 Capitol Corridor San Jose / Oakland / Sacramento 674,039 1,847[note 3] 168 11 1991 1 15
22 TexRail Fort Worth 556,300 1,700 27 62 2019 1 9
23 Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit San Rafael / Santa Rosa 474,500 2,100 45 46 2017 1 12[22]
24 Capital MetroRail Austin 466,800 1,500 32[23] 46 2010 1 9[23]
25 Downeaster Boston / Brunswick, Maine 444,812 1,219[note 3] 148 8 2001 1 12
26 New Mexico Rail Runner Express Albuquerque / Santa Fe 439,200 1,800 97 18 2006 1 13
27 Altamont Corridor Express San Jose / Stockton 389,100 1,900 86[24] 22 1998 1[24] 10[24]
28 Shore Line East New Haven 190,300 600 59 10 1990 1 13
29 A-Train Denton, Texas 184,600 589 21 28 2011 1 6
30 Westside Express Service Beaverton, Oregon 115,600 500 15 33 2009 1 5
31 WeGo Star Nashville 92,100 400 32 13 2006 1 6
32 Northstar Line Minneapolis 77,100 300 40 8 2009 1 7

Systems excluded from ridership table edit

System Largest city(s) served Opened Route length Reason(s) for exclusion from Ridership table
Hartford Line Hartford / New Haven / Springfield 2018 63 APTA does not provide ridership figures for this system.
Arrow San Bernardino 2022 9 This system is currently too new for APTA to provide ridership figures.

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b There are 3 lines operated by Metro North, the Port Jervis Line and Pascack Valley Line are run by NJ Transit. Metro North has 4 branch lines, the New Canaan Branch, Danbury Branch, Waterbury Branch, and Wassaic Branch.
  2. ^ a b c This is the Average Daily Ridership figure, not an "Average Weekday Ridership" figure – it is averaged from the 2023 First Quarter Ridership figure for this system.
  3. ^ a b c d Q4 2022

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Public Transportation Ridership Report Fourth Quarter 2023" (PDF). American Public Transportation Association (APTA). March 4, 2024. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  2. ^ "Public Transportation Ridership Report First Quarter 2023" (PDF). American Public Transportation Association (APTA). May 30, 2023. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
  3. ^ "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the Years Ended December 31, 2012 and 2011" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). June 21, 2013. p. 146. Retrieved 2014-08-29.
  4. ^ a b c "Long Island Rail Road - General Information". Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Retrieved 2014-03-23.
  5. ^ a b c "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the Years Ended December 31, 2012 and 2011" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). June 21, 2013. p. 147. Retrieved 2014-08-29.
  6. ^ "MTA Metro-North Railroad - MNR About MNR". Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Retrieved 2014-03-23.
  7. ^ "New Jersey State Rail Plan" (PDF). State of New Jersey, Department of Transportation. April 2015. p. ES-5. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  8. ^ "NJ Transit - About Us - History & Structure". NJ Transit. 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-23.
  9. ^ a b "NJ Transit Facts at a Glance Fiscal Year 2015" (PDF). NJ Transit. March 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  10. ^ a b c "Operations and Ridership Data". Metra. 2016. Retrieved 2017-06-28.
  11. ^ a b c "MBTA STATE OF THE SERVICE Commuter Rail" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). 2014. p. 3. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
  12. ^ a b "SEPTA - Media Guide" (PDF). SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority). 2013. p. 7. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  13. ^ "RTD - Facts & Figures". Regional Transportation District. April 4, 2020. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  14. ^ a b "Caltrain Modernization Quarterly Update" (PDF). Caltrain. February 2016. p. 2. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  15. ^ a b c "Transportation Division - Moving Around - Tri-Rail". City of Fort Lauderdale. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  16. ^ "2015 Financial Plan" (PDF). Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit). June 2015. p. 3. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  17. ^ a b c "VRE Strategic Plan Executive Summary" (PDF). Virginia Railway Express. May 2004. p. v. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
  18. ^ Jay Jones (July 8, 2012). "Dunes Country choo-choo". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2016-05-27. Along the 90-mile route, sightseeing and recreational opportunities are plentiful...
  19. ^ a b "SunRail Celebrates Phase 2 Groundbreaking". SunRail. April 22, 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  20. ^ a b c d "COASTER Fact Sheet" (PDF). North County Transit District. January 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  21. ^ "Stations".
  22. ^ a b "Data and Statistics - Fast Facts". Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2013. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
  23. ^ a b c Dan Leavitt (July 23, 2015). "ACEforward IMPROVING THE ALTAMONT CORRIDOR EXPRESS" (PDF). San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission. p. 1. Retrieved 2016-05-27.