Is Pittsburgh the smallest city in the world with a subway? (West Mifflin: closing, live)

[pittsburghaccuweather]

Originally Posted by _Buster

Oh wow I looked into the Cleveland system and now I don't think I would call that a subway. It appears that only 1 station is underground, Tower City, and the portion of the system that is underground is less than 2000 ft. I didn't expect that. I guess technically it is a subway, but I really wouldn't consider it to be. So that leaves Pittsburgh as clearly the smallest city in the US with its own subway system. Nobody can think of another in the world, maybe Canada or Europe?

That’s what I said earlier. Cleveland is not a subway. Cleveland is better if you are a transit junkie and hate to pay for airport or downtown parking. I’ve ridden both Pittsburgh and Cleveland in their entirety.

So yes Pittsburgh has the smallest subway in the world 1.1 miles total

[JoeP]

Do you literally mean "subway" as in underground, or a train in general?

Also, I believe Buffalo has something.

[eschaton]

The way that most Australian cities are set up, only the immediate downtown area is actually the core municipality. So the actual City of Sidney only has 208,000 people, and the City of Melbourne has only 135,000 people. Both of them have subway systems.

[_Buster]

Originally Posted by JoeP

Do you literally mean "subway" as in underground, or a train in general?

Also, I believe Buffalo has something.

I just mean actual underground subway systems, not street level. It looks like Buffalo wins, theirs is a subway, I didn't realize it. Its city limits have slightly smaller population than Newark.

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by _Buster

I just mean actual underground subway systems, not street level. It looks like Buffalo wins, theirs is a subway, I didn't realize it. Its city limits have slightly smaller population than Newark.

I've ridden on Buffalo's. It's the opposite of Pittsburgh, above ground downtown, then goes underground. Both are light rail (basically streetcars), as opposed to the heavy rail that serious subway systems have.

[usaf_1832]

Originally Posted by pittsburghaccuweather

That’s what I said earlier. Cleveland is not a subway. Cleveland is better if you are a transit junkie and hate to pay for airport or downtown parking. I’ve ridden both Pittsburgh and Cleveland in their entirety.

So yes Pittsburgh has the smallest subway in the world 1.1 miles total

Yeah, Cleveland only has the Tower City stop and maybe the Airport stop that are underground. These rest is light rail and heavy rail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...0-2015_SVG.svg

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by usaf_1832

Yeah, Cleveland only has the Tower City stop and maybe the Airport stop that are underground. These rest is light rail and heavy rail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...0-2015_SVG.svg

In Cleveland, the airport section is indeed a subway... Some argue that downtown/Tower City section isn't a true subway because rail runs beneath a series of buildings and streets that are built on stilts (pillars resting in 200-foot caissons, actually) and that the entire triangular Tower City complex is actually open to the outside on it's southern flank -- which actually necessitated by that large platform and rail yard needed for the Union Terminal station until passenger traffic shrunk away and Amtrak relocated to the currently, 1-track, 1-platform lakefront station. Personally, I don't buy it and still consider the RTA Rapid's downtown section a short subway as it does go beneath streets and, really, cut-and-cover subways are really streets built on 'stilts' above trenches, anyway.

That said, both Buffalo and Newark are much smaller subway cities than Pittsburgh. Newark, of course, is not in its own metro area but is a part of NYC's.

[Wells5]

A true subway or metro is defined as a "heavy rail" system. Pittsburgh's "T" is a light rail system. It's underground portion is technically not a subway. Check Wiki under world subways or metros. Pittsburgh is not listed.


As an aside, PA had at least 5 companies that made subway cars: J.G. Brill, Philly; the Budd Co., Philly; American Car and Foundry, Berwick; Pressed Steel Car Co., Pittsburgh and Pullman Standard, Butler. There are none left in the United States- all US subway cars are made by foreign companies with US assembly plants.

[pittsburghaccuweather]

Originally Posted by Wells5

A true subway or metro is defined as a "heavy rail" system. Pittsburgh's "T" is a light rail system. It's underground portion is technically not a subway. Check Wiki under world subways or metros. Pittsburgh is not listed.


As an aside, PA had at least 5 companies that made subway cars: J.G. Brill, Philly; the Budd Co., Philly; American Car and Foundry, Berwick; Pressed Steel Car Co., Pittsburgh and Pullman Standard, Butler. There are none left in the United States- all US subway cars are made by foreign companies with US assembly plants.

That is interesting. The US only has 15 of these heavy rail transit systems that would be considered a subway or a metro rail. The smallest city listed with a heavy rail metro transit is Cleveland. The next smallest city is Baltimore. I’m sure most of you could name the other cities as they are the largest in the nation. Philadelphia is the only PA city on the list.

Pittsburgh has a light rail it is not listed as a metro transit system. It said light rail systems are not considered subways or metro transit. Light rail is lower capicity and slower than heavy rail.

Very interesting.

If access to fast metro transportation was so important Cleveland and Baltimore should’ve been on the top 20 for amazon. Cleveland, Baltimore, San Francisco were all left off the amazon final list. The rest of the heavy rail metro cities were on it. Oh and a city in Puerto Rico was considered a US heavy rail metro city and they weren’t on Amazon’s list either. I think it was San Juan

[gg]

Originally Posted by Wells5

A true subway or metro is defined as a "heavy rail" system. Pittsburgh's "T" is a light rail system. It's underground portion is technically not a subway. Check Wiki under world subways or metros. Pittsburgh is not listed.


As an aside, PA had at least 5 companies that made subway cars: J.G. Brill, Philly; the Budd Co., Philly; American Car and Foundry, Berwick; Pressed Steel Car Co., Pittsburgh and Pullman Standard, Butler. There are none left in the United States- all US subway cars are made by foreign companies with US assembly plants.

Learned something new every day. Thanks.