Trams that Act like Metros around the World (Top 10 Underground lightrails/streetcars) 

Thanks for including the Subway-Surface lines in Philadelphia. In the tunnel they share with the Market-Frankford subway, they act as the "local" while the subway is the "express".

The Lille Tramway Sounds like some older light rail trains we have in Los Angeles!

As late as the mid-1950s, Rochester NY (USA) had such a system -- the rolling stock was PCC cars, which ran on their own above-ground tracks (not city streets) in the outer neighborhoods before going into about 1 mile of tunnel to the middle of downtown, as I recall. My mom took me and my kid brother for a day trip to visit the city, and since she knew the system was soon to be abandoned, she made sure for us to get a ride on it. (Mom was a tram enthusiast -- my earliest memory is of a streetcar ride with her in downtown Buffalo, our hometown, during the last month of service in 1950, when I was 2.5 yrs old and she was about 5 months pregnant with my little brother. The old streetcar -- a Peter Witt model in orange livery -- and her swelling tummy were the standout points of the day, evidently!)

The metro in Rotterdam is a metro. The metro drives as light rail/train a lot. It's not a tram. You could have mentioned Den Haag instead. The tram acts like a metro AND train there for a lot of parts. It's an awesome tram network. 👍

In Germany, streetcars and subways operate under the same operating regulations. The so-called Karlsruhe model is the great exception: there, a clever mind has combined railroads and streetcars. The corresponding vehicles also need two approvals

The tram/subway in Cologne (Germany) and the t-bane in Oslo (Norway) are very interesting, too.

Hey, Toronto has a few underground streetcar stations as well! There's two at both ends of one line serving Spadina Avenue.

The Spanish cities of Malaga and Granada have metro systems that easily qualify for this video.

Thanks for featuring Volgograd to list, I'm from Volzhskiy (~25km from Volgograd) and we drived at least few times in year to this city

Fun fact about the Volgograd underground tram system: Above ground trams drive right-sided, like normal trams, but underground they drive on the left side. This happens because older trams had the doors only on the right side, so the tunnels coming from above ground cross over before coming to the first underground stations and this cross over happens so smoothly that it's difficult to notice. Note: That is valid only for the old part of the system, as the later extension does not have this cross over. This actually was a problem, since trams with 2 driver-cabins were rare and older trams couldn't do the new route. Fun fact N°2: Also the old underground tram stations were built like metro stations because they were meant to be eventually converted into actual metro stations. This never happened and will likely never happen.

1. SEPTA (Philadelphia, PA) (as seen in the thumbnail) 2. MBTA Green line (Boston, MA) 3. NFTA metrorail (Buffalo, NY) 4. Pittsburgh light rail "T train" (Pittsburgh, PA) 5. New Jersey Transit Light rail "Newark City Subway" (Newark, NJ) 6. Sounder Light rail (Seattle, WA) 7. Metrolink (Los Angeles, CA) 8. St. Louis Metrolink (St. Louis, MO & East St. Louis, IL) 9. Volgograd, Russia That's pretty much all I know. I know most of the light rail/tram systems that act like subway systems in the USA.

Mentioning Düsseldorf, where they run a "full size" Stadtbahn, when neighbouring Essen, Bochum and Duisburg run actual streetcars through their tunnels - In Duisburg on the same tracks as the Stadtbahn with different height plattforms... But the Ruhrpott is a tramfans paradise... You can travel the whole length solely by streetcar (with interchanges and even gauge brakes) - roughly 100km one way. And Wuppertal is around the corner, too...

In 2008 there was Tram Service between Amsterdam and Amstelveen. The tram went on normal street tracks for a while and from one station it changed its 'Avatar'. It used to run at a higher speed like a normal two-car metro train till Amstelveen. The track was also shared with metro train services. I don't know how the tram company and the metro company did the coordination work to run both the services.

I enjoyed very much this video, however Iam still missing Charleroi's (Belgium) funny metro system. Even if it is not so beautiful, I love it so much!

Awesome to see that you have included the Rotterdam subway/lightrail system. I’m a subway/lightrail driver in Rotterdam for the RET, awesome to see man!

that France LRV sounds like Toronto’s T1s when accelerating and decelerating

It would be good if Canberra, Australia could build an Underground Light Rail line like this.

The reason the Rotterdam metro looks so much like a subway is because it was designed as such but was later upgraded with lightrail style bi-modalism to expand cheaply into the suburbs and re-use heavy rail infrastructure. I'ts more of a metro with level crossings rather than a tram with tunnels.

Wonderfully informative you should check out some of Canada's systems, Ottawa's O Train System, Calgary's C Train etc a lot of them use their LRT as a subway or heavy rail system.

From a local, in Rotterdam it's actually the other way around: a metro acting like a tram. It's a Subway system of 5 lines, in which lines A & B are running underground except in eastern-Rotterdam, where they both run as a tram/lightrail. In The Netherlands there is a special term for it, being Sneltram (Fast/Speed-tram if translated to English)

I love that you put our trolleys (Philadelphia) in the thumbnail ☺️☺️ but they’ve actually updated the tunnel and it’s redesigned along with our other subway system. And we have 1 trolley that always runs above ground which is the 15. And they share the tunnel from 13th-30th street. 13th is where it makes the loop around so you don’t see it. 😘😘

LA Subway reminds me of GTA5! Nice video Tim

Check out Stuttgart's Tram/Lightrail System! It's awsome! :)

Budapest M1 line/ special trainset based on a tram. Same voltage etc. Used to come up overground but now thw whole line just under the road surface. Tram line no. 2 also goes underground for a short section of the line.

Woow Guadalajara, México in the top ♥

Fascinating - I hope for more of those integral systems around the world.

Also lines 7 and 9 of the ZURICH tramway system (Switzerland) could have been recorded. Part of these lines is an underground section with 3 stations.

Thanx Tim for a great review. Newark NJ used PCCs like Philadelphia. Newark's system uses light rail equipment. Philadelphia still uses PCCs 👍👍😄😄

Pittsburgh PA has a cool metro-like part on its light rail.

You forgot Karlsruhe, its a 5 km long Tunnel under the Downtown (Stadtbahntunnel) for Tram-Trains and Light Rails

as a belgium (from antwerp) i thought it was normal that trams would go underground. but it seems like a lot of places are doing it to.

In Budapest, Hungary we have many public transport vehicle. The BKK ( Budapest Public Transport Company) has buses, trolleybuses, trams, underground (metro). It's not that intresting, but the metro line 4 stops are very modern. BUT, BKK has also ship flight, cogwheel train, HÉV - suburban train (some section of the line under the ground), Budavári sikló ( I don't know in english, 45 degree tram to the top of Gellért mountain), central europe longest tramway line and a historical metro line. It would be a wonderful video.

1. Bonn, Germany 2. Cleveland - Blue and Green Lines 3. San Francisco - Muni 4. Toronto - Spadina Line

It gave me a fair chuckle how you showed mexico's sysetm and a bucnh of european systems that where nice clean, acessible then.....New Jersey

The future Eglinton crosstown LRT in Toronto Canada line 5 will have a underground subway like portion through the heart of the midtown Toronto from Black Creek Dr and Brentcliffe. The eastern portion will run on the surface in the east end Scarborough, a brief underground portion at Don Mills and Eglinton, Science center station. Coming in 2022

The metro of Porto (Portugal) is also a tram that crosses bridges with pedestrians and cars.

I grew up on a system like that in Boston which is a mansion just like Philadelphia is a descendent of a prewar streetcar system The MBTA Green line is a light rail system that still operates through old streetcar tunnels some operate on dedicated right away some on semi dedicated right away and some in mixed traffic also interesting to note that the blue line used to be light rail but was upgraded to heavy rail

Εξαιρετικά όλα! Προσωπικά θεωρώ τα μετρικά laight rails λίγο καλύτερα επειδή καταλαμβάνουν στενότερη ζώνη πλάτους στο οδόστρωμα. Όμως είναι πολύ ωραία να εξυπηρετείς και υπογείως και επιγείως αναλόγως της διαμόρφωσης της αστικής διάπλασης του κέντρου μιας πόλης. Επίσης η "διαλειτουργικότητα" δηλαδή το να μπορεί το τραμ / laight rail να χρησιμοποιεί το δίκτυο μετρό ή σιδηροδρόμου δίνει εξαιρετική "κλαδικότητα" και επιλογές στην αστική και προαστιακή μετακίνηση. Εύγε!

(Edit: Boston and San Francisco covered in the Part 1 video.) Elsewhere: Budapest Metro Line 1: Started as a weird low-floor subway, but since the early 1970s runs what are basically light rail vehicles with very short pantographs.

You should mention Cologne-Bonn, Essen-Mülheim-Bochum-Gelsenkirchen, Frankfurt/Main, Stuttgart, Bielefeld, Hannover, Strasbourg, Nice, Marseille, Wien (Vienna), Madrid.

Very interesting list - obviously your subjective choices! I could make an impressive list using only German cities. Dusseldorf/Duisburg, Cologne/Bonn, Essen/Mulheim, Bochum/Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, Bielefeld, Hanover, Stuttgart, Mannheim/Ludwigshafen and (in the near future) Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe will be truly remarkable as its trams are already famous for the fact that they run way out into the countryside along main line railway tracks.

Noticeable that there doesn't seem to be anything in the UK although London pioneered Underground railways and many British towns and cities had trams. Only a few larger cities now have modern tramways - there seems to be a prejudice against them here.

Personally I miss Zurich, Switzerland on this List. There is a underground-section with 3 Stations on the Linies 7 & 9. And since the Tramways in Zurich only have doors on one side of the Vehicle, the Trams drive on the left in the tunnel with central plattforms, while above ground they drive on the right. On one end of the underground-sections there is a simple track-crossing, on the other end, there is a level-free crossing

Thank you for the nice Video, but Linz and Vienna allready have some Underground Tramway Tunnels

Rotterdam is the other way around. That is a full metro with 3rd rail where lateron extensions were made where it travels at street level with a pantograph. A more suiting example in The Netherlands would have been the Regiocitadis trams in The Hague which travels in tunnels in the city, at streetlevel, but seperate grade in Zoetermeer, which corresponds more with your title as it is a tram.

Ottawa, Canada has lrt that is mostly on surface except with tunnels downtown and cut and cover tunnels east and west.

The Los Angeles Metro light rail system opened an additional line and reconfigured 3 other lines resulting in several new additional underground stations as of June 2023. It now has the longest light rail line in the world.

You put Newark on here but not Pittsburgh? (Edit) Nevermind I see you have a Part I to this, don’t know how I missed that!

Hooray for our Philadelphia trolleys! I love them!

Where is Zurich? It also has a underground tram tunnel with 3 stations

Muy buen video mi amigo !!!! Saludos desde Argentina 🙋‍♂️

The sound of that Lille tram is so similar to an rolling stock of Taipei metro!

Thank you very much from Albertslund Denmark.

The Nanhai tram line 1in Foshan, China. With 4 stations underground equipped with platform doors. It doesn’t share its rail with other transportation, just like metro.

Great video and put together nicely, lots of information too, thank you Timosha21

Very good video!

Of all the systems, they are the most interesting in Eastern Europe. I have a suggestion that you could do separate sections about public transport systems in a given country. For example, in Poland or the Czech Republic or other countries. I know maybe a stupid idea but interesting. If you were interested in Polish I could help

The trams in Lille kind of sound like the T1 subways in Toronto.

You should include the Dallas Dart system. a good part of some of the lines is underground

Tim, was it a problem videoing in Volgograd metro-tram? I heard staff there (and only there) is extremely paranoid of people with cameras, for whatever reason.

Very interesting!

Nanhai Tram Line 1 in Foshan, China also looks like a metro line

Manila Light Rail Transit System Line 2 also runs underground from Katipunan-GMA to Marikina. It has one station underground.

I would rather define the Rotterdam system as a metro acting like a tram, than a tram acting like a metro.

Line 3 in Guadalajara has stations in the 3 downtown municipalities of Guadalajara's metro area, Tlaquepaque, Guadalajara and Zapopan

The greatest thing about this , that if necessity calls it can easy with the least costs transferred to full underground system .

I'm surprised u didn't include Buffalo's system in this video, considering 80% of the line is actually subway-style

those street cars you can use them for pretty any ways such as underground, off the streets, and even elevated structures.

What about Tokyo and Dallas?

That kind of thing is in Cracow, Poland

Very good video! 👍👍🚊🚃🚉

7:57 those are cheap parking garage gates used as rail gates lol

6:15 that is a light rail but they are labeled as like U79, U78

Great...love and like from India 🇮🇳 kolkata

Defeats the object of trams: street level accessibility.

I would add the beautiful city of Porto, as well

That gray area twixt tram/light rail/metro 🚇.For example what is the Dubai one? I'd go with light rail that resembles a modern tram 🚊.

Where is the green line train from Boston

The tram in zurich has 3 stations twho are also completely underground

As a person who ride the LA Metro. I will say that it is a not the subway. There are certain stations that are underground not the entire system. I highly disagree with you staying LA Metro is Subway when it is not . We do have our own Subway which is different from Light Rail. I could list each and every station that is underground. First is 7 th and Metro center as you rightly show. 2nd is Soto Street and. 3rd is a Mariachi Plaza. There will be three more new stations when the regional connector is open. They are Historical Broadway and Grand Ave Arts Bunker Hill and Little Tokyo Arts District station

Manchester also acts like a metro when it calls at Piccadilly low level.

Add there the tram/metro of Granada in Spain!

I enjoyed these, do a part 2 and include London’s DLR at Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich station

Volgograd in Russia, is formerly called Stalingrad.

The Brussels network is a bit complicated to "qualify". It's a mix between regular tramways, premetro, half-premetro, chrono-lines, express-lines... Here's a better picture : - Lines 3, 4, 7 are premetro + chrono (almost entirely on separate right-of-way, served by long low-floor tramways only). - Lines 25 and 51 are premetro (each uses a portion of the premetro network, but above ground can encounter trafic) - Line 9 is chrono, and uses only one underground station - Line 19 is regular tramway and uses only one underground station - Lines 39 and 44 used to be express-lines, and use only one underground station To keep it simple, i'd say only 5 lines qualify as premetro, but 3 are going to disappear when the new metro line 3 starts operating in 2023 in the existing premetro tunnel.

Can I include the Toronto transit Commission underground section between Queens Quay and Union station.

Must include the European biggest over million capital BELGRADE with projects like Beovoz or BG Voz.

Tip North American light rail subways are loud

You forgot Portland, San Francisco, Buffalo, and Boston! I'll understand not including Boston because the MBTA seems not to believe in maintenance, but the other three? No excuse!

You forgot Cologne. And Edmonton. And St. Louis

I’d like to think that they are light metros.

Missed NFTA's Metro Rail in Buffalo, NY.

I miss Charleroi in Belgium

0:20 sounds like a Toronto Subway T1

Grand Theft Auto 5 has one

Does the U6 (Vienna Austria) count?

Imagine calling Guadalajara Light Train as M E T R O, ugh. TREN LIGERO is our way :^) and much better than any other system in the country.

Zürich is missing or did I just miss it?

Missing Rouen (France)

Septa"Trolley"