List of rail transport systems using third rail

Main article: Third rail

Third rail railways predominantly operate in urban contexts. Notable exceptions are (or were) mainline electrics of the former Southern Region of British Railways and a few interurban railways in the US. In Europe top contact third rail tends to be limited to early electrified urban railways (the current conductor is normally left naked on top), contrary to North America where it usually has a protecting cover. Obviously considered safe enough, the covered top contact conductor also appeared at most North American systems built relatively recently. Modern European systems predominantly make use of bottom or side contact power rails.

It is also interesting to realise the existence of numerous urban rail systems, including these running mostly in tunnels, which do not use third rail at all. Such systems can be found in Asia, which may have been influenced by the overhead power supply formula followed by Tokyo Metro after 1960. All South Korean systems use overhead wires (or rigid conductors), as do most modern mainland Chinese Metros. In Europe all significant Spanish systems now have overhead power supply. Modern Latin America urban rail also uses overhead wires, though with some important exceptions.

Special group of bottom power supplied railways are rubber-tyred systems. In fact, it may be difficult to classify them beyond any doubt. They may be trains, but are they still railways? And do they still have 'third' rails? Despite doubts, such guided systems have been included in the list below.

The list does not include conduit system trams (trolleys), once quite popular in some countries, but none survive.

Notes:
t/c top contact; others have bottom or side contact power rails (or rail type not known)
gr/c combined with guiding rail on rubber-tyred systems (including light metros such as VAL)
b/c b/c – bottom contact

Europe

Country Location Name of System Notes Link
Armenia Yerevan Yerevan Metro    
Austria Vienna Vienna U-Bahn (b/c) Except line U6  
Azerbaijan Baku Baku Metro    
Belarus Minsk Minsk Metro    
Belgium Brussels Brussels Métro/Metro (STIB-MIVB)   STIB-MIVB
Bulgaria Sofia Sofia Metro    
Czech Republic Prague Prague Metro (b/c)  
Denmark Copenhagen Copenhagen Metro   Metro
Finland Helsinki Helsinki Metro    
France Paris Paris Métro (all lines on rails: t/c) (all lines on tyres: gr/c)  
Orlyval (gr/c)  
  Culoz–Modane railway (gr/c) 1925–1976
Lyon Lyon Métro Line C is a rack railway and thus uses overhead wires  
Marseille Marseilles Métro (gr/c)  
Rennes Rennes VAL (gr/c)  
Toulouse Toulouse VAL (gr/c)  
Lille Lille VAL (gr/c)  
Bordeaux Tramway de Bordeaux (partly)  
Villefranche-de-Conflent Yellow Train (t/c)  
Haute-Savoie Ligne de Saint Gervais - Vallorcine (t/c, covered occasionally)  
Georgia Tbilisi Tbilisi Metro    
Germany Berlin Berlin S-Bahn    
Berlin U-Bahn (small profile lines: t/c)  
Hamburg Hamburg S-Bahn (side contact)  
Hamburg U-Bahn    
Munich Munich U-Bahn    
Nuremberg Nuremberg U-Bahn    
Frankfurt Frankfurt/Main Airport de:SkyLine PM (gr/c)  
Greece Athens Athens Metro    
Hungary Budapest Budapest Metro (t/c) except 'Földalatti' (now Line M1)  
Italy Brescia Brescia Metro AnsaldoBreda Driverless Metro  
Milan Milan metro line 1 4 rails  
Milan metro line 5 AnsaldoBreda Driverless Metro  
Ferrovie Varesine Former System (1901–1951), t/c)  
Turin Turin VAL (gr/c)  
Superga Rack Railway
Naples "metropolitana FS" Former system (1925–1935), t/c  
Netherlands Amsterdam Amsterdam Metro (b/c) Except Sneltram alignments  
Rotterdam Rotterdam Metro (b/c) Except Sneltram alignments  
Norway Oslo Oslo T-bane   T-bane
Poland Warsaw Warsaw Metro (b/c)  
Portugal Lisbon Lisbon Metro (t/c)  
Romania Bucharest Bucharest Metro (b/c), except sidings where overhead wire is used  
Russia Moscow Moscow Metro    
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg Metro    
Novosibirsk Novosibirsk Metro    
  Kazan Metro    
  Yekaterinburg Metro    
  Nizhny Novgorod Metro    
  Omsk Metro    
  Samara Metro    
Spain Madrid Madrid Barajas International Airport PM (gr/c)  
Barcelona Barcelona Metro Former System, Lines 1, 3, 4 (t/c, covered)  
Sweden Stockholm Stockholm T-bana (t/c, covered)  
Switzerland   Chemin de Fer de Martigny au Châtelard partly 3rd rail  
Turkey İzmir İzmir Metro    
Ankara Ankara Metrosu and Ankaray Lines  
Istanbul Istanbul Metro    
Ukraine Kiev Kiev Metro    
Kharkiv Kharkiv Metro    
Dnipropetrovsk Dnipropetrovsk Metro    
United Kingdom Brighton Volk's Electric Railway (t/c)  
Glasgow Glasgow Subway (t/c)  
Hythe Hythe Pier Railway    
London Docklands Light Railway (b/c)  
London Underground (four-rail, t/c)  
LNWR suburban electrification (four-rail, t/c)  
Northern City Line (t/c)  
Liverpool Merseyrail (t/c)  
Southern England Southern Region (t/c), (large/most of the current South Western, Island Line, Southern and Southeastern TOCs )  
Stansted Airport Airport people mover Transports between terminals    

United Kingdom

Former:

Switzerland
Former:

Asia

Country Location Name of System Notes
China   Peking dìtiě  
  Tientsin dìtiě t/c, covered
  Wuhan Metro  
  Guangzhou Metro Line 4&5  
India Bangalore Metro Kochi Metro
Kolkata Kolkata Metro  
Iran   Tehran Metro  
Japan Hiroshima Astram Line (gr/c)
Kobe Portliner (gr/c)
Rokkoliner (gr/c)
Nagoya Nagoya Municipal Subway Higashiyama, Meijō and Meikō Line
Osaka Osaka Municipal Subway Midōsuji,Tanimachi, Yotsubashi,Chūō and Sennichimae Line
Kita-Osaka Kyūkō Railway
Keihanna Line
New Tram (gr/c)
Sapporo Sapporo Municipal Subway Nanboku Line
Tokyo Yamaman Yukarigaoka Line (gr/c)
Tokyo Metro Ginza and Marunouchi Lines (t/c, covered)
Yurikamome Line (gr/c)
Seibu Yamaguchi Line (gr/c)
Saitama New Shuttle (gr/c)
Yokohama Yokohama Chikatetsu  
Kanazawa Seaside Line (gr/c)
Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Ampang Line  
Kelana Jaya Line  
North Korea Pyongyang Pyongyang Metro  
Singapore Singapore Light Rail Transit (LRT) Three separate systems
Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)  
South Korea Busan Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit
Yongin Everline  
Taiwan Taipei Taipei MRT (VAL Line: gr/c)
Kaohsiung Kaohsiung MRT  
Thailand Bangkok Bangkok Metro  
Bangkok Skytrain  
United Arab Emirates Dubai Dubai Metro Proposed System
Uzbekistan Tashkent Tashkent Metro  

Japan

Former:

Africa

Country Location Name of System Notes
Egypt Cairo Cairo Metro Line 2 (Shobra - El Mounib)
Line 3 (Attaba - Al Ahram)

North America

Country Location Name of System Notes
Canada Montreal Montreal Métro (gr/c)
Toronto Toronto subway and RT (t/c, covered)
Vancouver Vancouver SkyTrain (t/c, covered)
Mexico Mexico City Mexico City Metro All lines (gr/c), except Line A (overhead)
United States Chicago Chicago 'L' Chicago 'L' and Subway, (t/c)
New York City Airtrain JFK  
Amtrak Penn Station complex, north and east river tunnels on Northeast Corridor, Empire tunnel

and Sunnyside Yard for diesel/electric engines and LIRR service to Penn Station (t/c, covered)

Long Island Rail Road NYC commuter system (t/c, covered); (Portions run on diesel & diesel/electric hybrid)
Metro-North Railroad NYC commuter system (b/c); (Portions run on diesel & diesel/electric hybrid); (New Haven Line trains switch between third rail and overhead catenary power between Mount Vernon East and Pelham, at speed )
New York City Subway (t/c, covered)
PATH t/c, covered)
Staten Island Railway (t/c, covered)
San Francisco BART (t/c, covered)
AirTrain SFO (gr/c)
Washington DC Washington Metro (t/c, covered)
Boston Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Red, Orange and Blue (partly) Lines (t/c)
Philadelphia Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) Market-Frankford Line: (b/c, covered), Broad St Line, Route 100 to Norristown: (t/c, covered)
PATCO (t/c, covered)
Atlanta MARTA (t/c, covered)
Atlanta International Airport PM (gr/c)
Los Angeles Los Angeles Metro Red Line (t/c, covered)
Miami Miami Metrorail (t/c, covered)
Miami Metromover (gr/c)
Baltimore Baltimore Metro Subway (t/c, covered)
Detroit Detroit People Mover  
Chicago O'Hare International Airport Transit System (gr/c)
Tampa Tampa International Airport PM (gr/c)
Denver Denver International Airport PM (gr/c)
Seattle Satellite Transit System PM in Airport (gr/c)
Dallas Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport PM (gr/c)
San Juan, Puerto Rico Tren Urbano Semi-suspended inverted collector rail[1] (b/c?)

United States

Former:

South America

Country Location Name of System Notes
Argentina   Trenes de Buenos Aires Mitre and Sarmiento railways
Buenos Aires Metrovías Urquiza railway, Buenos Aires subway line B (t/c, covered)
Brazil   Metrô - Cia de Transporte Metropolitano de São Paulo (b/c), except Line 5 (overhead) and 15 (monorail)
  Rio de Janeiro Metro (t/c, partly covered)
  Brasília Metro (b/c)
Chile   Santiago Metro (gr/c), except Line 4 (t/c)
Venezuela Caracas Caracas Metro  

References

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