Passenger Rail Terminology - Comparison of Types

Comparison of Types

Comparison of Characteristics and Operating Standards of Types of Metropolitan Rail Systems
Characteristics Streetcar Tram/
Light Rail
Metro/
Heavy Rail
Commuter/
Suburban Rail
Rail tracks At grade Mixed - mostly
grade separated
Grade separated Grade separated
Power supply Overhead lines Overhead lines Third rail
Fourth rail
Overhead lines
Third rail
Locomotive
Units per train 1-2 2-6 Up to 10 Up to 12
Average speed (km/h) 10-20 30-40 30-40 45-65
Passengers per train 125-250 260-900 800-2,000 1,000-2,200
Maximum passengers
per hour per direction
7,500 18,000 40,000 48,000

Read more about this topic:  Passenger Rail Terminology

Famous quotes containing the words comparison of, comparison and/or types:

    When we reflect on our past sentiments and affections, our thought is a faithful mirror, and copies its objects truly; but the colours which it employs are faint and dull, in comparison of those in which our original perceptions were clothed.
    David Hume (1711–1776)

    We teach boys to be such men as we are. We do not teach them to aspire to be all they can. We do not give them a training as if we believed in their noble nature. We scarce educate their bodies. We do not train the eye and the hand. We exercise their understandings to the apprehension and comparison of some facts, to a skill in numbers, in words; we aim to make accountants, attorneys, engineers; but not to make able, earnest, great- hearted men.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    If there is nothing new on the earth, still the traveler always has a resource in the skies. They are constantly turning a new page to view. The wind sets the types on this blue ground, and the inquiring may always read a new truth there.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)