Canada: urban passenger rail systems
including tramways and other guided-transit systems

Cities are listed geographically, broadly from north to south and west to east.
This listing represents the position in 2001.

This page was updated on 21 April 2001.
The link to STM was amended 6 August 2002.

Commuter-rail (also known as suburban rail or regional rail) systems offer rail passenger service between metropolitan and suburban areas, whether within a province or across its geographical boundaries, usually characterised by reduced fares for multiple rides and commutation tickets for regular riders.

Heavy-rail (also known as metro, subway, elevated or rapid transit rail) systems have high-speed passenger railcars operating singly or in trains of two or more cars on fixed rails in separate rights-of-way from which all other vehicular traffic and pedestrians are excluded.

Light-rail (also known as tramway, streetcar, or trolley-car) systems have lightweight passenger railcars powered from an overhead electric line via a trolley or pantograph, operating singly or in short, usually two-car, trains on fixed rails in right-of-way that is not separated from other traffic for much of the way. Many light-rail vehicles stop in the middle of the street and do not have ‘stations’ as such.

Definitions above are modified slightly from those of the American Public Transportation Association
See also Canadian Urban Transit Association / Association canadienne du transport urbain
You may wish also to visit David Wyatt's comprehensive all-time Canadian transit site, which records systems not shown here because they are no longer in operation.

City / province Principal transit agency (or owner) Operating company (# = subsidiary of principal transit agency) Type Gauge in mm Stations Route-km Remarks
Whitehorse YT Government of Yukon Miles Canyon Historic Railway Society trading as Whitehorse Trolley heritage light-rail 914 3 1 Ex-Lisboa tram with power from diesel generator trailer runs seasonally over short section of White Pass & Yukon Railway; see Tramways & Urban Transit Mar-2000 and Apr-2000
Vancouver BC Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority trading as TransLink # West Coast Express Ltd commuter-rail 1435 8 65  
Vancouver BC Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority trading as TransLink # British Columbia Rapid Transit Co Ltd trading as SkyTrain heavy-rail 1435 20 28 Automated metro with linear induction motors. A new Millennium Line is under construction.
Vancouver BC Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority trading as TransLink TransLink trolleybus n/a n/a 67  
Vancouver BC City of Vancouver trading as Downtown Historic Railway Transit Museum Society (TRAMS) heritage light-rail 1435 3 3 Seasonal; to be extended a further 1km in summer 2001
Nelson BC Nelson Electric Tramway Society (NETS) NETS heritage light-rail 1435 6 2 Seasonal
Edmonton AB City of Edmonton # Edmonton Transit System (ETS LRT) light-rail 1435 10 14  
Edmonton AB City of Edmonton # Edmonton Transit System (ETS) trolleybus n/a n/a 78  
Edmonton AB Edmonton Radial Railway Society (ERRS) ERRS trading as High Level Bridge Streetcar heritage light-rail 1435 2 2 Seasonal
Edmonton AB Edmonton Radial Railway Society (ERRS) ERRS trading as Fort Edmonton Park Streetcar heritage light-rail 1435 2 2 Seasonal
Calgary AB City of Calgary # Calgary Transit LRT light-rail 1435 31 29  
Calgary AB Heritage Park Foundation Heritage Park heritage light-rail 1435 2 1 Seasonal
Milton ON Ontario Electric Railway Historical Association (OERHA) OERHA trading as Halton County Radial Railway heritage light-rail   2 2 Seasonal
Ottawa ON Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission trading as OC Transpo, under overall supervision of City of Ottawa OC Transpo commuter-rail 1435 5 8 Conventional rail service though described locally as 'light rail'. Bombardier Talent diesel railcars are to run over CP freight line from 05-Aug-2001.
Toronto ON Greater Toronto Transit Authority (GTTA) trading as GO Transit, under overall supervision of Greater Toronto Services Board Canadian National / Canadian Pacific commuter-rail 1435 50 361  
Toronto ON Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) TTC subway heavy-rail 1495 61 63  
Toronto ON Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) TTC trading as Scarborough rapid transit (SRT) heavy-rail 1435 6 7 Automated metro
Toronto ON Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) TTC streetcars light-rail 1495 n/a 80  
Niagara Falls ON Niagara Parks Commission trading as Niagara Parks Niagara Parks trading as Falls Incline Railway funicular 1850 2 52m  
Montréal QC Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT) Canadian National / Canadian Pacific commuter-rail 1435 40 168  
Montréal QC Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT) Societé de transport de Montréal (STM) (formerly STCUM) heavy-rail 1435 65 ?65  
Québec QC Funiculaire de Vieux-Québec Inc Funiculaire de Vieux-Québec funicular 864 2 60m  
Delson QC Canadian Railroad Historical Association trading as Canadian Railway Museum Canadian Railway Museum trading as Golden Chariot heritage light-rail   2 2 Seasonal