Commuter rail

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The Long Island Rail Road operates electric and diesel service into New York City along with Metro-North Railroad and NJ Transit Rail.
AM class electric multiple unit used in Auckland, New Zealand


Non-English names include Treno suburbano in Italian, Cercanías in Spanish, Rodalies in Catalan, Proastiakos in Greek, S-Bahn in German (although Regionalbahn or stopping services occasionally also operate as commuter trains), Train de banlieue in French, Příměstský vlak or Esko in Czech, Elektrichka in Russian, Pociąg podmiejski in Polish and Pendeltåg in Swedish. The development of commuter rail services has become popular today, with the increased public awareness of congestion, dependence on fossil fuels, and other environmental issues, as well as the rising costs of owning, operating and parking automobiles.




  • being larger
  • having (in most cases) a lower frequency of service

Train schedule[edit]






Distinction between other modes of rail[edit]





In Germany the S-Bahn is considered as a train category of its own, and exists in many of the large cities and in some other areas but do have differing service and technical standards from city to city. Most S-bahns typically behave like commuter rail with most trackage not separated from other trains, and long lines with trains running between cities and suburbs rather than within a city. The distances between stations however, are usually short. In larger systems there is usually a high frequency metro-like central corridor in the city center where all the lines converge into. Typical examples of large city S-Bahns include Munich and Frankfurt. S-Bahns do also exist in some mid-size cities like Rostock and Magdeburg but behave more like typical commuter rail with lower frequencies and very little exclusive trackage. In Berlin, the S-Bahn systems arguably fulfill all considerations of a true metro system (despite the existence of U-Bahns as well) – the trains run on tracks that are entirely separated from other trains, short distances between stations, high frequency and uses tunnels but do run a bit further out from the city centre, compared with U-Bahn. A similar network exists in Copenhagen called the S-tog. (where a metro system also exists). In Hamburg and Copenhagen, other, diesel driven trains, do continue where the S-Bahn ends ("A-Bahn" in Hamburg area, and "L-tog" in Copenhagen).

Regional rail[edit]



Inter-city rail[edit]

See also: Inter-city rail




High-speed rail[edit]


The high-speed services linking Zürich, Bern and Basel in Switzerland (200 km/h (120 mph)) have brought the Central Business Districts (CBDs) of these three cities within 1 hour of each other. This has resulted in unexpectedly high demand for new commuter trips between the three cities and a corresponding increase in suburban rail passengers accessing the high-speed services at the main city-centre stations (or Hauptbahnhof). The Regional-Express commuter service between Munich and Nuremberg in Germany go in (200 km/h (120 mph)) along a 300 km/h high-speed line.


Train types[edit]


Multiple unit type[edit]

An electric multiple unit on the Seoul Subway Line 1 operated by Korail in Seoul, South Korea


Locomotive hauled services[edit]


Seat plans[edit]



Commuter rail systems around the world[edit]





East Asia[edit]

Yamanote Line which is representative of the Japanese commuter rail.


Commuter rail systems have been inaugurated in several cities in China such as Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha and the Pearl River Delta. With plans for large systems in northeastern Zhejiang, Jingjinji, and Yangtze River Delta areas. The level of service varies considerably from line to line ranging high to near high speeds. More developed and established lines such as the Guangshen Railway have more frequent metro like service. Hong Kong MTR's East Rail Line and West Rail Line were built to commuter rail standards but are operated as a metro system.



Southeast Asia[edit]

Electric multiple unit of KA Commuter Jabodetabek Green Line train at Palmerah Station, Jakarta

In Indonesia, the KA Commuter Jabodetabek is the largest commuter rail system in the country, serving Jakarta metropolitan area. It connects Jakarta city center with surrounding cities and sub-urbans in Banten and West Java provinces, including Depok, Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi, Serpong and Maja. In July 2015, KA Commuter Jabodetabek served more than 850,000 passengers per day, which is almost triple of the 2011 figures, but still less than 3.5% of all Jabodetabek commutes.[3]

Other examples include KTM Komuter in Malaysia, and the Philippine National Railways orange line in Metro Manila, Philippines.

South and West Asia[edit]

In India, commuter rail systems are present in major cities. Mumbai Suburban Railway, the oldest suburban rail system in Asia, carries more than 7.24 million commuters on a daily basis which constitutes more than half of the total daily passenger capacity of the Indian Railways itself. The Chennai Suburban Railway along with MRTS is another railway of comparison where more than 1 million people travel daily to different areas in Chennai. In Hyderabad, the MMTS mainly transports people from the city centre to HI-TEC city, the city's Information Technology hub. Other commuter railways in India include Kolkata Suburban Railway which is the biggest Suburban Railway network in India covering 348 stations, Delhi Suburban Railway, Pune Suburban Railway and Lucknow-Kanpur Suburban Railway.



Type X60 at Stockholm Central in Sweden

Major metropolitan areas in most European countries are usually served by extensive commuter/suburban rail systems. Well-known examples include Beovoz in Belgrade (Serbia), S-Bahn in Germany and German-speaking areas of Switzerland and Austria, Proastiakos in Greece, RER in France and Belgium, suburban lines in Milan (Italy), Cercanías in Spain, CP Urban Services in Portugal, Esko in Prague and Ostrava (Czech Republic), HÉV in Budapest (Hungary) and DART in Dublin (Ireland).


In Sweden, electrified commuter rail systems known as Pendeltåg are present in the cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg. The Stockholm commuter rail system, which began in 1968, is similar to the S-Bahn train systems of Munich and Frankfurt such that it may share railway tracks with inter-city trains and freight trains, but for the most part run on its own dedicated tracks, and that it is mainly used to transport passengers from nearby towns and other suburban areas into the city centre, not for transportation inside the city centre. The Gothenburg commuter rail system, which began in 1960, is similar to the Stockholm system, but does fully share tracks with long-distance trains. Other train systems that are also considered as commuter rail but not counted as pendeltåg include Roslagsbanan and Saltsjöbanan in Stockholm, Östgötapendeln in Östergötland County, Upptåget in Uppsala County and Skåne Commuter Rail. Skåne Commuter Rail (Pågatågen) in Skåne County acts also as a regional rail system, as it serves cities over 100 km (62 miles) and over one hour from the principal city of Malmö.

In Norway, the Oslo commuter rail system is the largest, which mostly shares tracks with more long-distance trains, but also runs on some local railways without other traffic. Oslo has the largest commuter rail system in Scandinavia measured as line lengths or number of stations. But some lines have travel times (over an hour from Oslo) and frequencies (once per hour) which are more like regional trains. Also Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim have commuter rail systems. These have only one or two lines each and they share tracks with other trains.

In Poland, commuter rail systems exist in Tricity, Warsaw, Cracow and Katowice urban area. There is also a similar system planned in Wrocław.


North and Central America[edit]

Metrolink provides commuter rail service to 6 counties in Southern California.


South America[edit]




A Melbourne Siemens commuter train


The main systems of commuter rail in Australia include:

New Zealand has two commuter rail systems, one using 25,000 V AC in Auckland and the other one using 1,500 V DC in Wellington (formerly operaterd by Tranz Metro).

See also[edit]


External links[edit]