All posts tagged: commuter rail

Official Map: Rail and Tram Network, Budapest, Hungary

July 9, 2012
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Budapest boasts the second oldest underground metro line in the world: its Line 1 (Yellow Line) dates from 1896 and was added the the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2002. Only the London Underground predates it. Wikipedia also claims (without attribution, unfortunately) that Budapest’s comprehensive tram service has the busiest “traditional city tram line” in the world where tram lines 4 and 6 combine, with the world’s longest passenger trams (54-metre long Siemens Combino units) […]

Official Map: TRAX and FrontRunner Rail Map, Salt Lake City, 2012

July 2, 2012
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By all accounts, the Utah Transit Authority’s rail system is a modern and successful one. However, this is something you’d never guess from their system map, which is one of the most cobbled-together, unprofessionally done maps I’ve ever seen. Have we been there? Yes, but I’ve never caught the train there. What we like: The required information is there to be found if you can bear to look at the map long enough. What we […]

Official Map: City of Zurich Night S-Bahn and Bus Network, Switzerland, 2012

June 20, 2012
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One type of map we haven’t covered yet here at Transit Maps is the night services map, often considered a very poor relation to the main map. However, there are some excellent examples out there, especially this black and yellow beauty from the city of Zurich in Switzerland. Have we been there? No. What we like: Graphically very striking with its black and yellow colour scheme. Good differentiation between bus and train services accomplished by […]

Historical Map: Sydney Rail Transport System, c. 1970-1976

June 8, 2012
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Here’s another interesting planning map from Sydney, Australia, showing a vision for the future that never quite got there. If you look to the far centre right of the map, you can see the planned Eastern Suburbs line… including a never-built extension from the (now current) end of the line at Bondi Junction to Kingsford. There’s also an extra station at Woollahra in the section that did finally get built. It’s these details that allow […]

Historical Map: Boston Commuter Rail Map, Mid-1980s

June 4, 2012
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Great old map of Boston’s extensive commuter rail network. I really like the way the subway lines are included to give scale to the whole network, and I especially like the square that the main interchange stations on the subway lines make — an understated design choice that gives a nice central focal point to the map. I suspect that the odd colours of the Orange and Red Lines are due to aging ink discolouration […]

Fantasy Map: Freshwater Railway, Detroit and Southeast Michigan

May 23, 2012
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This map has to be part of the most convincing fantasy transit system I have ever seen. As well as this stylish and distinctive map, there’s an entire website, complete with additional bus maps, timetables and more. I’ll also note here that the website design puts most transit agencies to shame… If you weren’t familiar with Detroit, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was real (I kind of wonder how many tourists have been tricked […]

Official Map: Rail Transit of Nürnberg/Fürth, Germany, 2011

May 22, 2012
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Here’s an interesting map from Nürnberg (Nuremberg) in Germany that uses 30-degree angles instead of the usual 45. There doesn’t seem to be major thematic reason as to why things have been done this way: I suspect that it’s purely to make the routes fit into the allotted space. Have we been there? Yes, in 2003. What we like: Competently done, with a visually pleasing layout and good information hierarchy – the U-Bahn and tram […]

Historical Map: Sydney Railway Map, 1939

May 8, 2012
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Just how influential was the original Harry Beck London Underground diagram of 1933? Certainly enough for Sydney, Australia to issue this nearly identical vision of its own suburban rail system in 1939, right down to its own version of the London Underground roundel. I’ve never been able to find out whether this map was authorised or licensed from the London Underground, or whether Sydney just thought, “that looks like a good idea, let’s do that!” […]

Historical Map: Sydney CityRail Network Map, 1992

May 3, 2012
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Now this is the transit map of my youth. Sydney’s CityRail map went through a few different looks in the mid-80s and early-90s, but this is the one that sticks in my memory the most. This map shows both the first growth in the system for a number of years with the extension of the East Hills line to Glenfield, but also the last remnants of the old with the vestigial Pippita branch still in […]