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| Service type | Inter-city rail | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Proposed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | Delmarva Peninsula | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current operator(s) | Amtrak | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | dartfirststate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Diamond State Line is a proposed Amtrak passenger rail service in the U.S. state of Delaware and the greater Delmarva Peninsula.
The proposal was considered by the Federal Railroad Administration as a part of the Corridor Identification and Development Program, which is a thorough planning and development program for creating new and upgrading existing inter-city passenger rail services in the United States. [2] [3]
The Federal Railroad Administration has allocated a $500,000 grant to the Delaware Transit Corporation to plan the schedules, route, and cost of the project. A route for this project hasn't been officially decided, however the line has been said to start from either Newark or Wilmington, go through the state capital of Dover, and end in southern Maryland at Salisbury or Berlin. [4]
The route is primarily owned by Norfolk Southern Railway, a Class 1 U.S. freight railroad. [5]
In 1957, the Pennsylvania Railroad, would suspend all passenger rail services in Delaware, however for six months in 1965, a limited passenger service called the "Blue Diamond" would be ran on a trial basis on the proposed routes mainline. This route would not attract enough ridership to justify operating the service, as some riders claimed the schedule was the reason of the service's declining ridership. [6]
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people throughout five counties in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It also manages projects that maintain, replace, and expand its infrastructure, facilities, and vehicles.
New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit or NJTransit and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey and portions of the states of New York and Pennsylvania. It operates buses, light rail, and commuter rail services throughout the state, connecting to major commercial and employment centers both within the state and in its two adjacent major cities, New York City and Philadelphia. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 209,259,800.
The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C., in the south, with major stops in Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Newark, Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore. The NEC roughly parallels Interstate 95 for most of its length. Carrying more than 2,200 trains a day, it is the busiest passenger rail line in the United States by ridership and service frequency.
The Maryland Area Rail Commuter (MARC) is a commuter rail system in the Washington–Baltimore area. MARC is administered by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) and operated under contract by Alstom and Amtrak on track owned by CSX Transportation (CSXT) and Amtrak. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 3,860,600, or about 14,000 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2024, less than pre-COVID-19 pandemic weekday ridership of 40,000.
The River Line is a hybrid rail line in southern New Jersey that connects the cities of Camden and Trenton, New Jersey's capital. It is so named because its route between the two cities is parallel to the Delaware River.
The Heartland Flyer is a daily passenger train that follows a 206-mile (332 km) route between Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Fort Worth, Texas. It is operated by Amtrak and jointly funded by the states of Oklahoma and Texas.
The Downeaster is a 145-mile (233 km) passenger train service operated by Amtrak and managed by the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA), an agency of the state of Maine. Named for the Down East region of Maine, the train operates five daily round trips between North Station in Boston, Massachusetts, and Brunswick, Maine, with ten intermediate stops.
The Lincoln Service is a 284-mile (457 km) higher-speed rail service operated by Amtrak that runs between Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. The train is a part of the Illinois Service and is partially funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation. The train uses the same route as the long-distance Texas Eagle, which continues to San Antonio and Los Angeles. A connection with the Kansas City-bound Missouri River Runner is available in St. Louis.
The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by SEPTA and serving the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, its suburbs and satellite towns and cities. It is the sixth-busiest commuter railroad in the United States. In 2016, the Regional Rail system had an average of 132,000 daily riders and 118,800 daily riders as of 2019.
The Atlantic City Line (ACL) is a commuter rail line operated by NJ Transit (NJT) in the United States between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Atlantic City, New Jersey, operating along the corridor of the White Horse Pike. It runs over trackage that was controlled by both the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines. It shares trackage with SEPTA and Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) until it crosses the Delaware River on Conrail's Delair Bridge into New Jersey.
The Lowell Line is a commuter rail service of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running north–south between Boston and Lowell, Massachusetts. It is 25.4 miles (40.9 km) long, with nine stations including the terminals at North Station and Lowell station. All stations are accessible except for West Medford and Mishawum.
The Wilmington/Newark Line is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail commuter rail system in the Philadelphia area. The line serves southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware, with stations in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, Wilmington, Delaware, and Newark, Delaware. It is the longest of the 13 SEPTA Regional Rail lines.
Schuylkill River Passenger Rail is a proposed passenger train service along the Schuylkill River between Philadelphia and Reading, Pennsylvania, with intermediate stops in Norristown, King of Prussia, Phoenixville, and Pottstown.
CapMetro Rail is a hybrid rail system that serves the Greater Austin area in Texas and is owned by CapMetro, Austin's primary public transportation provider. The Red Line is CapMetro's first and currently only rail line, and connects Downtown Austin with Austin's northwestern suburbs. The line operates on 32 miles (51 km) of existing freight tracks, and serves 10 stations. After a series of delays, CapMetro Rail was inaugurated in March 2010. CapMetro added Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and evening regularly scheduled service on March 23, 2012. In 2023, the line had a ridership of 485,400, or about 1,600 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2024.
The Providence/Stoughton Line is an MBTA Commuter Rail service in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, primarily serving the southwestern suburbs of Boston. Most service runs entirely on the Northeast Corridor between South Station in Boston and Providence station or Wickford Junction station in Rhode Island, while the Stoughton Branch splits at Canton Junction and terminates at Stoughton. It is the longest MBTA Commuter Rail line, and the only one that operates outside Massachusetts. The line is the busiest on the MBTA Commuter Rail system, with 17,648 daily boardings in an October 2022 count.
The Ohio Hub was a high-speed railway project proposed in the 2000s decade by the Ohio Department of Transportation aimed at revitalizing passenger rail service in the Ohio region. The plan was awarded funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, but Governor John Kasich refused to use the funds for the project and the funds were reclaimed by the federal government. Passage of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act raised the possibility of new funding for a similar project.
The Queen Anne’s Railroad was a railroad that ran between Love Point, Maryland, and Lewes, Delaware, with connections to Baltimore via ferry across the Chesapeake Bay. The Queen Anne's Railroad company was formed in Maryland in 1894, and received legislative authorization from Delaware in February 1895. The railroad's original western terminus was in Queenstown, Maryland, and was moved via a 13-mile (21 km) extension to Love Point in 1902, which shortened the ferry trip to Baltimore.
The Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project is a New Jersey Transit and Amtrak effort to restore passenger service to the Lackawanna Cut-Off in northwest New Jersey.
NC By Train is a brand name used by the Rail Division of the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) for two state-supported Amtrak routes operating in the U.S. state of North Carolina–the Carolinian and the Piedmont.
The Commonwealth Corridor is a proposed east-west inter-city passenger rail service in the U.S. state of Virginia. This project aims to establish a service between Newport News to a new station at New River Valley. The route will pass through key cities such as Roanoke, Charlottesville, Richmond, and Williamsburg, as well as several universities such as the College of William & Mary and the University of Virginia.
