REGIONAL RAIL FOR U.S. METROPOLITAN AREAS: CONCEPT AND APPLICATIONS

With old rail systems largely rebuilt and several new-start projects in revenue service, it is timely to discuss the idea of regional rail as a service concept, its historical evolution, and how it uses traditional rail modal technologies--heavy rail, light rail, commuter rail--as the basis for creating coordinated, multidestinational metropolitan transit systems. Regional rail is defined as emerging rail transit service concept and institution superimposed on a metropolitan region, employing conventional rail technologies, incorporating elements of older rail operations and infrastructure where they exist, and adding new links where required to integrate suburban, urban and downtown travel functions. It is suggested that regional rail distributes riders like rapid transit or light rail in the central business district, while providing express line-haul transportation like commuter rail between central cities and their suburbs. Thus, regional rail can respond well to the long trips characteristic of U.S. metropolitan areas. The place of regional rail in the phasing over time of transit system development is discussed, as are its general characteristics, organizing principles, and several examples. Finally regional rail is seen as an opportunity to implement new operating practices and reforms, to investigate and apply technical innovations selectively, to control costs while attracting new customers from markets that street transit finds difficult to penetrate, and to offer a concept that managers can use to coordinate a range of integrated, high-quality transit services that can be sold across a spectrum of the traveling public.