This glossary does not include nonguideway, rubber tire modes (paratransit, buses, trolleybuses) or automated guideway transit and waterborne and special modes.

The definitions are the author s own interpretations (with the advice of Winfred Salter), attempting to generate a coherent structure. Great reliance has been placed on established definitions published by the Federal Transit Administration, the American Public Transportation Association, the Transportation Research Board, and Professor Vukan Vuchic.

cable car

A vehicle on rails pulled by a continuously moving steel cable loop under the pavement within the trackway, with a central power plant. Examples include the San Francisco cable car service.

commuter rail

Rail passenger service operating at the metropolitan level, usually between the center and adjacent suburbs, using either locomotive-hauled or self-propelled railroad cars. Stations are relatively far apart, platforms may be high or low, and the right-of-way will be largely reserved and segregated, but possibly having some protected at-grade crossings. May provide peak period service only. Examples include the operations by Metra in the Chicago metropolitan area.

elevated (el) (American) Early rapid transit systems placed on elevated viaducts atop streets. Examples include the els of New York and Chicago, many of which are still in operation.

fixed guideway transit Any transit mode with operations confined to a permanent channel or trackway. A general term encompassing heavy rail transit, light rail transit, and other rail modes. Examples include BART and the Los Angeles Blue Line.

heavy rail transit (HRT) Transit service using multicar trains, with...