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BOSTON

The commuter rail is operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).

• Elmer's MBTA Homepage
• MBTA Commuter Rail Home Page
• Gopher to MBTA directory
• Schedules
• Map
• Fares

CHICAGO

Here is a wonderful scan of the official map. Also, Metra has an official information center with maps, schedules, fares, etc.

CHICAGO -- SOUTH SHORE LINE

South Shore Line is owned and operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD).

LOS ANGELES

METROLINK

• Union Station
• Metrolink Home Page by Elson Trinidad
• Southern California commuter rail map (covers both Los Angeles Metrolink and San Diego Coaster)

MIAMI

• Tri-Rail Commuter Rail System -- schedules, fares, station locations, contact information, whatever you like!

NEW JERSEY

NEW JERSEY TRANSIT (NJT)

• Schematic map of the lines (sorry, do not know who draw it!)
• NJ Transit Train Schedules and other information, including a
• New system map!

NEW YORK

NEW YORK -- LONG ISLAND RAILROAD

The Long Island Railroad was chartered in 1834. The line was completed to Greenport in 1844. On 1880, the railroad absorbed its competitors and became the only railroad on the island. The main line was electrified in 1905. The LIRR is the busiest passenger railroad in the USA. It is operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).

• Map in GIF
• Some basic information about LIRR
• The LIRR Library - Books about the Long Island Railroad
• Recently opened MTA official Home Page!
• A track map of the Port-Jefferson Station
• This may be a rare picture: LIRR double-decker train at Port Jefferson station headed to New York City. That was the only Port-Jefferson line train that was both diesel- and electric-powered and hence allowed to enter Penn Station. This service was introduced in the Fall, 1995 and discontinued in Winter, 1995/96.
• Some pictures of the Stony Brook station:
  • a view of the station
  • a New York-bound train approaches the station
  • a New York-bound train departs from the station
• A picture of Shirley-Mastic station (Montauk branch)
• Pictures of Smithtown and St. James stations (Port-Jefferson branch)
• LIRR has a number of museums dealing with the history of the railroad and of particular locations. Among them:
  • Wantagh Preservation Society
  • LIRR Museum in Riverhead and Greenport. The museum rolling stock resides at the Riverhead station, and I have some pictures of their vintage cars (class T-62 prototype double decker, 1932, and Baggage Mail BM-62, 1928). More pictures of LIRR double-decker cars here.
  • Locomotive 35 Restoration Society in Mitchell Field (besides the steam locomotive itself, which is in a very bad condition, they also have some old LIRR car).
• LIRR uses a great variety of boarding tickets. Here is the front side and the back side of one of them good for one ride from Port Jefferson to Stony Brook or back, valid for three months

NEW YORK -- METRO NORTH RAILROAD

MNRR which does not have COMMUTER word in its name only anymore.

• The Unofficial Metro-North Page
• Recently opened MTA official Home Page
• A picture of the Metro North's Beacon Station

PHILADELPHIA 

SEPTA stands for South-Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority

• SEPTA on DVARP
• Core Rail Systems map, including commuter and urban SEPTA and PATCO routes
• An article from USENET about Newton Line

SAN DIEGO

• Southern California commuter rail map (covers both Los Angeles Metrolink and San Diego Coaster)
• Schedules

SAN FRANCISCO

SP began rail passenger service on same right-of-way used by CalTrain today from Palo Alto (then the bridge over the San Fransiquito Creek) to San Francisco in 1863. It was completed to San San Jose in 1864. It has operated continuously every since. The transition from SP to CalTrain was a gradual one. The service was renamed to CalTrain in 1981 but SP ran it with government subsidy and oversight until 1992. It involved no equipment changes until 1984. But 7/1/92 shift from SP to AMTRAK as operator (supervised by local government body) did not involve crew changes (information from Alan Hirsch).

Now, it is operated by the CalTrain Joint Powers Board (SamTrans). The system spreads over 77 miles. It has 77 passenger cars and 20 diesel electric engines, and carries about 22,000 passengers weekly.

Read here about the Caltrain Downtown San Francisco Extension Project.

• Schedules from Palo-Alto
• A PostScript route map by Stephen Stuart

WASHINGTON, DC 

MARC stands for MAriland Rail Commuter.
VRE stands for Virginia Railway Express

• MARC Schedules
• Combined MARC and VRE system map
• One more MARC map
• VRE now has its own Home Page with a perfect system map