Routing of a railroad track or tramway track running directly along public streets
This article is about railways running on public roads. For the physical activity, see Parkour. For the long distance sport, see Road running.
An NICTD EMU street-running on Michigan City’s 11th Street; United States, in 2009
On-street running or street running is the routing of a railroad track or tramway track running directly along public streets, without any grade separation. The rails are embedded in the roadway, and the train shares the street with pedestrians and automobile traffic. Street running trains generally travel at reduced speed for safety reasons.
Stations can appear similar in style to a tram stop, but often lack platforms, pedestrian islands, or other amenities. Passengers may be required to wait on a distant sidewalk, and then board or disembark directly among mixed traffic in mid-pavement, rather than at curbside.
Wiener Lokalbahn – tram-train running on tram tracks in Vienna and Baden and as light rail between the two towns. A section of the light rail tracks in Guntramsdorf runs directly on the Feldgasse narrow street, but without any stops on it.
Caroline Street (from Erb Street West to Allen Street West, tracks removed in 1994)
Croatia
In Rijeka, freight trains (and occasional passenger trains) run from western to eastern cargo terminal of Port of Rijeka through the city centre.[3]
Germany
For tramways the legal separation of a street running trackbed and an exclusive trackbed in urban traffic is given in § 16 BOStrab tramway regulations. Germany has some street-running railways:
Freight trains using the infrastructure of Rhein-Sieg-Verkehrsgesellschaft to the company Evonik in Niederkassel-Lülsdorf passing the village Sieglar (next to Troisdorf) are running inside the Pastor-Böhm-Straße.
Hungary
A section of service track of the H8/H9 BHÉV lines on Kerepesi Road in Budapest was rebuilt as street running in order to allow metro replacement buses to use the path to avoid traffic jams. The railway is only used by maintenance trains, mainly at night. Buses also only operate occasionally.
The only operational road-railway bridge in Hungary where street running happens is at Kisköre on the Tisza. Here, the non-electrified single-track railway carrying the branch line 102 of MÁV runs on the same path as local car traffic. The bridge is closed for road vehicles when trains pass.
India
A Darjeeling Himalayan Railway running through the street in Darjeeling
Indonesia used to have an extensive "steam tramways" (more accurately defined as local railways) network, which had many street running sections in various towns and cities in Java and Sumatra.
Two sections remain in use in 2010: part of the Wonogiri branch runs along the Slamet Riyadi street in Surakarta, and a short branch to an oil depot in Madiun. The earlier line sees both passenger and freight service (including a steam-hauled tourist train), while the other line is exclusively for freight.[citation needed]
Ireland
Freight trains to and from the docks at Dublin share the Alexandra road with cars
Japanese law distinguishes between tramways and railways, but light rail does not exist as a separate category. For instance, the Toyama Light Rail line - with extensive street trackage - is legally a railway but uses low-floor light rail vehicles. Only operations with 'heavy rail' vehicles are listed here.
Examples under the jurisdiction of Japan's Railway Law include:
Inuyama Bridge (The bridge on the Meitetsu Inuyama Line runs across the Kiso River. Since 2000 the bridge has been used exclusively by trains, with a new parallel bridge for road traffic.)
Keifuku Electric Railroad (Like the above Keihan lines, Keifuku uses high-profile railway-style vehicles and only includes short sections of street trackage; however the entire network is classified as a tramway.)
Fukui Railway (Operated as a single line, formerly with heavy rail stock, but street running section is legally a tramway.)
Nagoya Railroad's 600V network in Gifu (Abandoned in 2005, this network of street tramways inter-operated with interurban lines - such as the Minomachi, Tagami, Ibi and Tanigumi lines - that were classified as railways and used large, high-floor vehicles. The Minomachi and Tagami lines included short sections of street trackage classified as tramways.)
Niigata Kotsu Railway Line (This interurban line, abandoned in 1999, included a short street running section - legally a tramway - near its Niigata terminus.)
Laos
The rail link across the Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge over the Mekong River between Thailand and Laos is shared-use, although road traffic stops while trains cross the bridge.[4]
In Aguas Calientes, the town at the foot of Machu Picchu, the railway shares the streets with pedestrians, as well as in other towns further up the line. This railway serves as the only way of reaching Machu Picchu from Cusco without walking.[citation needed]
Portugal
Av. Emídio Navarro with Ramal da Lousã track, in Coimbra, Portugal (2007)
In Coimbra, an 800 m single-track segment of Ramal da Lousã runs along Emídio Navarro, immediately southeast of the Coimbra-City station; closed “provisionally” in 2004, track scheduled to be lifted upon total closure of the spur line from Coimbra-B.[g]
In Lisbon a series of short single track segments along Avenue Brasília / Avenue Índia in riverside southwest Lisbon, links Linha de Cintura with Linha de Cascais and with cargo tracks associated with the harbour. It carries freight traffic only, mostly at night.[h]
Serbia
In 1999, Žeželj Bridge, a railway and road bridge in Novi Sad (with separated traffic) was destroyed during NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. As a temporary replacement, a street running Road-Railway Bridge was constructed in 2000. It remained actively used up to 2018, when the new Žeželj Bridge opened, and the dismantling of the temporary bridge began in October that year.
Swiss law does not distinguish between trams and railways, making the distinction between street running by trams and that by railways legally indistinct.
The Berninabahn has three sections of street running, in Le Prese, Miralago and in Tirano (in Italy), where the approach to the station involves street running and crossing a public square.
In Zürich, 1,000-tonne grain trains make up to 4 journeys a day between Bahnhof Hardbrücke and the Swissmill Tower on Sihlquai, following a 2-kilometre route along Zahnradstrasse, Hardstrasse and Zöllystrasse, including a tram crossing. The driver controls traffic lights manually.[7]
The combined road and rail swing bridge at Preston Marina
The most notable track where street running was common was the Weymouth Harbour Tramway; however this ended service to regular traffic since 1987, and to all traffic since 1999.
The Alaska Railroad bridge over the Chena River, located on Fort Wainwright, was previously shared by rail and road traffic. The U.S. Army eventually installed a new road bridge at a crossing downriver from the rail bridge and rerouted the roads accordingly.
From 1912 until April 2000, trains operated approximately 1.25 miles (2 km) down Ninth Street, one of the major arteries of the city. The tracks were built by the Tidewater Southern Railway and later operated by the Union Pacific. They were controversial and the city tried to have them removed for decades. However, a short section along B Street from Ninth Street to Twelfth Street remains in active use.
Jack London Square: 1st. St. W./Embarcadero W. (from end of road, west of Market St. to Webster St., UP/Amtrak mainline, in use.) Amtrakpassenger trains, and mainlinecontainerfreight trains share the road with pedestrians, cyclists, buses and automobiles, with passenger trains traveling at up to 25 miles per hour (40 km/h).
Glascock St, from 29th Ave to Lancaster St, serving Cemex and Miller Mining Company.
Richmond St. (between E. Lehigh Ave. and Aramingo Ave., lead to N. Delaware Ave. above, Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad, removed, street realigned due to I-95 realignment)
S. Swanson St. (from S. Christopher Columbus Blvd. above to E. Snyder Ave., still in use, originally ran to E. Oregon, Ave.)
Providence and Worcester Railroad Service to the northernmost piers of the Port of Providence and numerous sidings via Allens Ave. from the Harbor Branch. Tracks in situ, currently classed as "Out of Service" by FRA rules.
Broadway Avenue (CN, Still in use, Single track runs down the center of Broadway Avenue for four blocks, trains travel up to 30 mph through the street )
Monroe Street (WSOR, previously owned by CNW and UP, this line was used until the mid 2000s, and then put out of service. The Wisconsin Southern Railroad refurbished the track in 2015)
Division Street (WC, this section the Wisconsin Central mainline ran down Division Street along people's front yards, considered a bottleneck, the tracks were abandoned in 1996, and were removed later. Trains now run down Broad Street a few blocks east. The track there is owned currently by CN)
^Kyper, Frank (1977). The railroad that came out at night : a book of railroading in and around Boston. Brattleboro, Vt.: S. Greene Press. pp. 13–40. ISBN0-8289-0318-2.