Mike Strong

Mid-Sized Cities and Their Urban Rail Systems Mike Strong

In this atlas, seven rail systems in North America are compared with each other, and for additional perspective, the rail systems in seven similar European cities. These comparisons are primarily made through maps. A common scale and map symbologies are used to facilitate these comparisons. These maps not only compare size of each rail system, but other characteristics such as travel time, frequency and how much it costs to buy a ticket. The North American regions included in this atlas all have constructed modern rail systems since the 1970s. This atlas has focused on systems that have recently completed or are planning an expansion. These metropolitan areas and rail systems include: North America: Calgary, Alberta (CTrain) Denver, Colorado (RTD Light Rail) Minneapolis, Minnesota (Metro Light Rail) Portland, Oregon (MAX Light Rail) San Diego, California (San Diego Trolley) Seattle (Link Light Rail) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (SkyTrain) Europe: Brussels, Belgium (Metro) Copenhagen, Denmark (Copenhagen Metro) Hamburg, Germany (U-Bahn) Helsinki, Finland (Helsinki Metro) Milan, Italy (Metro) Munich, Germany (U-Bahn) Stockholm, Sweden (Tunnelbana) Only medium-sized metropolitan areas have been included, defined as having between one and five million residents. All of the North American and European regions that are included in this atlas are broadly similar in size, demographics and economics. Each region has a healthy city center at its core.