I notice from reading articles about commuter rail networks in cities, that a variety of methods are used in naming the various lines that make up the system. Some cities use letters: A line, B line etc. Others use colours: Blue line, Red line… etc.
Here in Brisbane the suburb/locality that has the terminating station is used, e.g. the Cleveland line, the Ferny Grove line, the Shorncliffe line etc. Using geographical names like this does have the advantage of giving the new/visitor traveller some idea of where they are going, which would help when using route maps etc. I think the London Underground uses geographic names for their lines…?
I wonder which method is most used in metro commuter systems “up over” ? Would the folk in the Forum from the various cities aross the States and Canada with metro systems like to make a comment on the methods used for naming lines?
Hey, at least you know where you going in brisbane! Dave, do you often catch the train? I got some shots a few days back on the mainline at bracken ridge, where I live, I posted them here, you interested in seeing them? i can dig the link up if you like.
Hey James! Another poster from Downunder, and in Brisbane too!
I catch city train everyday to commute to and from work. Get on at Shorncliffe station and and get off at Brisbane Central. A quick commute compared to driving by car and not having to pay exhorbitant parking fees.
Could you please dig up the link of your shots of the main north coast line at Bracken Ridge? Thanks very much!
Hey! from my area too! maybe we could meet one day for some railfanning or something? [:)] I gather you live at Shorncliffe? funny who you meet on international forums that turn out to be so close to home [:)]
Well I don’t know them all by memory, but off the top of my head, I know that Boston, Dallas, and Portland Oregon all use color codes. Chicago’s CTA is also color coded, leading to some controversy due to a new service branded as the “Pink Line”. I believe San Diego is also color coded. This seems to be the predominate approach in the U.S. now. Seattle doesn’t have light rail yet, and it’s commuter system is very linear, so no coding or naming per se beyond train numbers for Sounder. This seems typical of U.S. commuter lines.
Here in Boston we have the red,blue,orange,green,and silver lines. And from what transit maps I’ve seen, colors seem to be more common than letters. And they’re easier to remember for me, except for Tokyo. They go by colors, but for me it looks extremely complex, and the Japanese lettering on the map would be totally incomprehensible to me[xx(]
For example, the ‘District’ and ‘Metropolitan’ lines are named after the Victorian railway companies that built them, the ‘Jubilee’ line is named after the Queen’s silver jubilee in 1977 (it was originally going to be called the ‘Fleet’ line), and the ‘Circle’ line is named after it’s shape and train service pattern.
The ‘geographic’ names aren’t very meaningful anyway - e.g. the ‘Piccadilly’ line passes under Piccadilly Circus (in central London), but it extends west to Heathrow Airport and north to Cockfosters - 44 miles end to end.
The lines have been colour-coded on the Tube maps for many years, but no one refers to them by their colours.
Chicago has a variety of systems. The Chicago Transit Authority (rapid transit and buses within the city) has used the color system for its rapid transit routes since about 1992. Prior to that, the terminal for each line (with some exceptions) was used as the designator. Metra (suburban rail) tends to designate its lines by the original operator (UP, MILW, BNSF, etc.) with three exceptions. The Southwest Service (ex-WAB) is directional, The Heritage Line (ex-GM&O) uses its location near the Chicago Portage, and the North Central Line (new service on WC) is directional.
The Chicago Portage is the short overland trail between the Chicago River and the Des Plaines River and is the historic reason for Chicago’s existence. The Illinois & Michigan Canal and the later Sanitary & Ship Canal were water connections using the Chicago Portage route.
Before going to the color coding, CTA was using some directional references on maps/car cards (North-South, West-Northwest, etc.) for some of the longer or complex routes. This was in addition to the branch names that appeared on the curtain readings (“Lake” and “Dan Ryan” co-existing with the “West-South” designation on the map). Other lines (Ravenswood or Evanston, for example) never got these directional references, continuing to use neighborhood or suburb names on both curtains and maps/car cards. Route color coding and the “A”/“B” (skip-stop) designations did co-exist for a short while. The first of the production 3200s ran on the Brown Line with “A” and “B” curtains.
First of all, thanks everyone for the feedback. All very informative. From the replies, it seems colours are used predominantly in the U.S for naming metro/commuter lines. Hoping to get some feed back from the Canadian folk sometime too, for their big city systems…and anywhere else of course!
Tony, you made an intersting comment about the Underground lines in London being all colour coded but no-one refers to them by colour. Similar situation here. Colours are used to show the various lines on the Brisbane suburban network but everyone refers to the terminus station name. Even Queensland Rail uses the terminus name to refer to the various lines, both on the inidicator board at the front of the E.M.U.s and on timetables.
Calgary’s LRT uses Line 201,202, 7ave. free zone. Each stop is named after the district it is located, such as Anderson Road, Shawnessy, University etc etc, nothing too exciting.
Over here in the great city of Philadelphia, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) has various names for all of their rail lines.
First we have the Regional Rail System. The lines are as follows: R1, R2,R3,R5,R6,R7,R8. These names are color coded but, no one in the city goes by the color corrdination. Some of the lines like the R7, R2, and R5 are broken up by destination names, due to the line’s coverage and length. There is also a combinded line that is called just that, The Combinded Line, which serves certain stations allong two given lines, it is also reffered to as an Express train. These lines are also called by their destination names, which is sometimes put in the “railroad lingo terms”.
Second Septa has what they refer to as their High Speed System, which is the subway. The subway is color coded. We have the Orenge Line, the Green Line, and the Blue Line. The Blue line is the most popular and covers the most distance.
Seems like colors are the trend for naming lines in the metro and suburban systems “up over.” Down here, the trend is more towards the name of the terminating station is the name of the line. Just wondering if any of the Canada Crew on the Forum can help us out with what’s done “top end up over”…
New York City Transit Authpority uses both letters and numbers. The lettered lines are the old IND lines built by the city of New York. The numbered lines (1-7) are the old IRT lines and are the oldest in the city. The tunnels on the lettered lines (Division A) are widers than those of the numbered (Division B) and subsquently Division A cars can’t run on the Division B routes.
Color coding is used in NYC as well. For example, the 1,2 & 3 trains all run on the 7Th Avenue line, the 1 being the local, and the 2 & 3 are the expresses, all are color-coded red. The 8th Avenue A, C & E are colored blue, the LExington Avenue 4, 5 & 6 are green and so on. Check out www.mta.info.
GP9 Man, thanks for the info of the NY system. I had only heard about the use of the letters.
Very intriguing is the two different tunnel dimensions - I hope a Division A train can’t be mistakenly routed onto the B division - i.e. physically separate tracks?
We be just a little schizoid here (like the light rail planners here in the mile high burg who can’t figure out much of anything for fear of alienating the bus people…Heavy rail/ commuter rail appears to be doomed, even with FASTRAX.). Mix of colors, names and local slang.
Mudchicken, can you give us a few examples of the local slang? Some of it can be quite critical of services provided e.g. down here, we have a comparatively new service (2 x 3 car EMUs coupled together) connecting the Gold Coast to Brisbane City - however, the popularity of the service was underestimated. Peak period services (and some off peak services too) full up and more - so it got the slang title “Bombay Express” however, more units have been ordered with 30 x 3-car EMUs in production.
West Corridor=Federal Center Line=Associated RR line=Denver Lakewood & Golden (What the line started as in 1890, steam dummy line)=REMACO Line=Jeffco Connection
Southeast Line=Santa Fe line
TREX=I-25 Line = Southeast extension
US36 Line/Longmont Line/Boulder Expansion = Commuter line planned a long ways off
Some clarification is in order about naming the lines in the Boston area. Like many other cities, the subway/rapid translt lines thru the central area use colors (red, blue, orange, and (in the case of the several light-rail routes running along streets further out) green. However, the commuter rail lines from North and South Station typically are named for their destinations…the Fitchburg line, Newburyport line, Framingham line, etc. In some cases, referring back to their earlier heritage as components of larger systems, they are known at least informally by the name “Branch” eg Franklin Branch and Needham Branch. In fact Green Line streetcar route to Riverside station in Newton is to this day referred to as the “Highland Branch,” from its days as a branch of the Boston and Albany (New York Central) R.R. before its conversion to light rail in the mid-1950s.
Concord, thanks for the extra info about Boston. I find the situation you have there of the South and North stations, rather than one central station, quite intriguing. I guess they were, in the past, each a terminus for two competing, or, geographically different, railroads in Boston??