Categories
General Light Rail Metro Rail

Once a Leader in Urban Rail Investment, the United States Now Trails

As late as 1980, the United States had more kilometers of metro lines per capita than all large developed countries but the United Kingdom—thanks in part to large public investments in projects like Washington’s Metro and San Francisco’s BART. In the decades since, both the United States and the United Kingdom have stagnated, falling behind even as other countries, particularly China, but also India and many in Europe and South America, have invested in massive new construction campaigns. Much of the world’s urban areas are rapidly becoming dominated by metro service.

In this post, I exploit data from the newly expanded Transit Explorer database, which now includes all metro lines worldwide plus other fixed-route transit services in many countries. The database has been significantly expanded since I wrote about findings from its last update in January. This geospatial database allows me to investigate when and where transit is being built.

The first trend is unambiguous: Worldwide, metro service availability has expanded exponentially. In 1950, only 24 metropolitan areas in 13 countries globally could boast of a subway, elevated line, or monorail (automated light metros didn’t yet exist). Today, 232 metropolitan areas in 63 countries can make such a claim.

Metro construction has accelerated. The number of kilometers of metro lines in active service has expanded from just over 7,000 in 2000 to more than 23,000 today—a tripling of service even as the global population has grown by only about 30 percent during that time. There are almost 7,000 additional kilometers of metro lines currently under construction globally.

World Metro Line Kilometers

The increase in metro service availability in since 2000 has been driven by Chinese cities, which now host more than 40 percent of world metro kilometers. European cities have been steadily increasing their metro route length since the 1970s, however, and Indian cities have accelerated subway and elevated construction since 2010.

Cities in the United States had a plurality of the world’s metro kilometers until 1960. At that point, cities in the now-European Union accumulated more route kilometers (European cities now have about double the total metro kilometers as those in the United States). Chinese cities passed those in Europe in terms of length in about 2010—and Indian cities are expected to host more metro service than the United States by 2025, given current construction activity.

Metro Line Kilometers by Country

One major explanation for the United States’ declining rank in terms of metro service availability is the fact that the New York City region—which had the world’s longest metro system until the mid-1980s—now has fewer subway or elevated kilometers than it did in 1940, at its peak.

The New York region now has the 13th longest metro system in the world (including the Subway and PATH)—shorter than systems in nine Chinese cities (not all shown on the following graph), plus London, Moscow, Seoul. By 2025, it will be the 15th longest, passed by Delhi and another Chinese city. Remarkably, Shanghai’s metro system is now twice as long as New York’s Subway—despite the former only opening its doors in 1993. New York City has no serious plans to expand its system, even as virtually every other major metropolitan area is doing so.

Metro Line Kilometers by City

The result of the United States’ limited progress in providing metro services to its residents is that the number of metro kilometers per resident in the country is now lower than it was in the 1980s. It had the second-most-plentiful metro service per-capita in the world until that point (after the United Kingdom)—but on this metric it has now been passed by the European Union, as well as China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea, among other countries.

Per Capita Metro Lines by Country

Even when incorporating data on light rail and streetcar lines—which US cities have been more focused on building than metros—transit service availability has declined since the 1970s. Indeed, all of the rail transit construction that’s occurred in the United States since the 1980s has done little more than keep up with population growth.

Up until 2000—perhaps surprisingly given lower transit ridership—the United States had more kilometers of metro and light rail lines per capita than residents of neighboring countries or many large European countries for which the Transit Explorer database has complete information (the database does not yet include light rail or streetcar lines for all countries).

But the United States has lost its position on this metric to France and Spain in the years since. France went from having about half the per-capita urban rail miles as the United States in 2000 to significantly more today. And countries like Italy and the Netherlands have been rapidly expanding their services in recent years.

Per Capita Metro and Light Rail Lines by Country

What’s next for the United States? The federal government’s infrastructure law, passed in 2021, will send hundreds of billions of dollars to cities for new transit projects. So far, though, that hasn’t been enough to spur a massive investment in new transit lines compared to past efforts. Transit agencies in major cities are facing a “fiscal cliff” due to declining ridership that may make it more difficult for them to continue to provide adequate daily service. And construction costs are rising rapidly due to inflation.

Categories
General General Infrastructure Light Rail Metro Rail

Historical Trends Show a Decline in Investment in High–Quality Transit in the US—And an Uptick Elsewhere

Using the data embedded in the Transit Explorer database, I calculated key statistics on how transit investment has changed over time in the United States and a number of other countries. These data point to some intriguing trends, notably a decline in investment stateside combined with significant expansion in countries like Canada, Egypt, France, Israel, and Turkiye (I have not yet assembled data for countries in south and east Asia, where transit expansion is proceeding even more quickly).

(Relatedly, for the Urban Institute’s Urban Wire, I calculated key trends in housing adjacency to rail and bus rapid transit stations in the US, as well as Canada, England, and France.)

Over the past century, transit construction in the US waxed and waned. Overall, the number of kilometers of rail transit systems added reached its apex (at least since the 1920s) in the 1990s, when about 1,000 kilometers of new commuter rail lines were opened. During the first decade of the 2000s, the country added the most heavy rail (subway/metro) and light rail lines, generating more than 500 new kilometers over ten years, a record.

Since 2010, however, rail transit construction has lost steam in the US. The number of kilometers opened declined by about 30 percent between the 2000s and 2010s, and the first few years of the 2020s suggest further decline by 2030. At the current rate, less than 500 new kilometers of rail transit will open by then—the lowest figure since the 1970s.

Nevertheless, among the countries in the Transit Explorer database (meaning, excluding Australia, plus south and east Asian countries), the US now has the most kilometers of metro rail (heavy rail or light metro). As of 2023, it has about 1,350 kilometers in operation, of which about a third are in the New York region.

But the growth rate of active metro lines in the US has been slower than in other countries since 2000, increasing by only about 10 percent in route length (the US population grew by 18 percent over the same period). The length of metro systems more than doubled in Brazil and increased by 45 percent in Spain, by contrast.

And there are about 1,700 kilometers of metro in operation in the European Union’s seven most populous countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Romania, and the Netherlands), whose collective population is almost identical to that of the United States. Their metro route length has increased by 30 percent overall since 2000—three times as fast as the US. (Those countries’ populations collectively grew by only about 4.5 percent between 2000 and 2021.) It is worth noting that Russia’s urban metro rail systems have also expanded tremendously since 2000, outpacing Spain as of 2022.

We can see similar trends when examining the number of light rail, tramway, or streetcar stations in operation across the countries in the database. Since 1980, US cities have invested heavily in light rail, adding about 1,370 stations nationwide. That’s a lot, but it is less than in those seven EU countries combined (2,100 stations), and even just in France (1,450 stations).

And some countries, like Italy, are planning very large investments in new tramways in the coming year.

Transit expansion plans, of course, vary by metropolitan area. Among regions in the US and Canada, New York has by far the largest number of line kilometers of light or heavy rail, followed by the Bay Area, Mexico City, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and Toronto.

But New York actually has fewer active heavy rail lines in service than it did in 1950. And neither it nor Chicago has added much light rail or subway service since the turn of the millennium. Neither has any major expansion plans actually funded for completion over the next five years, either.

Los Angeles, Montreal, Seattle, and Toronto, on the other hand, stand out as having the largest transit expansion plans in terms of new route kilometers that are currently under construction or planned, meaning projects are funded and almost ready for construction.

And when controlling for urban area population, New York is arguably an under-performer when it comes to overall transit route length. The New York urban area currently has fewer light or heavy rail kilometers per capita than the Baltimore, Bay Area, Denver, Philadelphia, San Diego, St. Louis, and Washington, DC regions. It goes to show that having the maximum amount of transit route length isn’t necessarily directly correlated with having the most transit ridership; the New York area carries more people on transit than all those regions combined.

But New York, as noted, also stands out for having no light rail or subway projects that are either under construction or funded. This situation contrasts strongly with the Minneapolis and Seattle urban areas, whose rail transit expansion plans are the largest in the US on a per-capita basis.

New York’s limited transit expansion prospects are particularly remarkable when compared to the plans of many other world regions. Cairo, Istanbul, Paris, Riyadh, Tel Aviv, and Toronto each have many light rail or metro lines under construction today—and many more kilometers planned (Paris is likely to soon overtake London and New York in terms of total kilometers of such routes). London, on the other hand, has none.

Different regions are investing in different ways. Among routes that are currently under construction, Casablanca, Copenhagen, Los Angeles, Seattle, Tel Aviv, and Toronto have focused heavily on light rail projects. Cairo, Istanbul, Lagos, Montreal, Paris, and Riyadh are building at least 50 kilometers of metro rail each. And Bogota, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro are building many kilometers of bus rapid transit.

The result of all this expansion is that New York’s once-dominant position as having the world’s longest metro network—a position it claimed from London in the 1910s—has eroded. New York pulled down many of its elevated lines and didn’t do much to expand its Subway network. Meanwhile, London took on the mantle in the 1980s through its expansion with the Docklands Light Railway, and, through systematic, relentless expansion, Moscow took the crown from London in the 2010s. Systems in East Asia are even larger. At the same time, Paris, Cairo, and Istanbul have massive expansion plans with many new lines opening over the next five years.

These conditions overall tell a story of declining US commitment to transit expansion in the context of large growth in other countries around the world. There are some exceptions—Seattle, in particular, has a big investment in new lines planned. But while the world is building out ever more accessible transit systems, the US appears to be falling behind.

Categories
Aerial Bus Commuter Rail General General Infrastructure Light Rail Metro Rail Stations Streetcar

Openings and Construction Starts Planned for 2023

Last year, three lines Americans have been waiting on for decades—the Green Line extension in Boston, the Crenshaw Line in Los Angeles, and the Silver Line to Dulles Airport outside Washington—finally opened. Though they took years to be completed, they were greeted enthusiastically by riders and political officials content to bring better service to more people.

Similar reception greeted new rail and bus lines opening in Athens, Cairo, Guadalajara, Helsinki, Paris, and dozens of other cities around the world. And much more is planned for 2023: Finally, Long Island Rail Road service will reach the sub-sub-sub-basement of Grand Central Terminal. Toronto’s Eglinton light rail line will connect the city crosstown. And Honolulu, Gebze, Riyadh, Tel Aviv, and Thessaloniki will get their first metro services.

This year, I leveraged data assembled in the Transit Explorer database to identify which projects opened in 2022, which are planned for opening in 2023, and which will be under construction this year—for a later opening date.

On separate posts, I analyzed trends in transit investments around the world and examined accessibility to transit stations in the US versus Canada, England, and France.

London’s Crossrail project opened in 2022, providing new cross-city connections across the capital. Credit: Geoff Henson on Flickr (cc).

The Transit Explorer database now includes all fixed–guideway urban transit systems (meaning rail and bus rapid transit) across North America, South America, Africa, and nine Western European countries, plus metro systems throughout Europe and in parts of the Middle East. Transit Explorer now includes about 29,200 urban transit stations and about 6,700 urban transit lines (covering 78,000 kilometers). (It also includes some intercity rail systems.) These are the geographies for which I provide details about transit line openings below.

Istanbul’s metro network—spanning continents—is becoming one of the world’s largest.
Bogota is a bus rapid transit haven—but a new metro system is planned.

Data can be viewed freely on Transit Explorer or purchased for non-commercial use in Shapefile, GeoJSON, and CSV formats for those who would like to use the data for research or other uses, such as in Excel, R, ArcGIS, or QGIS.

Previous compilations of new and planned transit projects on The Transport Politic can be found here: 2009 | 2010 | 2011  | 2012  | 2013  | 2014  | 2015  | 2016  | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022


New transit investments completed in 2022

Overall, 517 kilometers of new fixed-guideway urban transit services opened in 2022 across the countries covered by the Transit Explorer database. Of these, the countries with the largest increases in kilometers were the United States (196 kilometers); Egypt (77 kilometers); Mexico (60 kilometers); France (39 kilometers); and the United Kingdom (34 kilometers).

Azerbaijan

  • Baku: 2 km Purple Line metro extension from Avtovagzal to Khojasan

Canada

  • Montreal: Creation of 11 km SRB Pie-IX bus rapid transit route through the east side of the city

Denmark

Egypt

  • Cairo:
    • Line 3 metro extension west to Kit Kat (4 km)
    • Creation of 72 km Cairo Light Rail system (really a metro system) heading east into the new capital area

Finland

  • Helsinki: 7 km extension of the M1 metro line

France

  • Paris:
  • Rennes: Creation of new 13 km Line B automated light metro
  • Toulouse: Creation of 3 km Teleo aerial tram line

Greece

Italy

  • Milan: Opening of the first phase of automated M4 light metro, 5.5 km from the airport into the city

Israel

  • Haifa: Creation of Rakavlit aerial tram line (4 km)

Luxembourg

  • Luxembourg: Extension of T1 tramway by 1.2 km to the south

Mauritius

  • Port Louis: 10 km extension of the Metro Express light rail system to the south

Mexico

  • Guadalajara: Creation of 41.5 km Mi Macro Periferico bus rapid transit line, a circumferential route around the city
  • Mexico: 18 km extension of Mexibus Linea 1 bus rapid transit line in the northern suburbs

Poland

  • Warsaw: Extension of M2 metro line west and east, totaling 6 km

Spain

Turkiye

  • Bursa: Creation of 8 km T2 tramway line
  • Istanbul:
    • 8 km extension of M4 to Asian-side airport
    • 1.5 km extension of M7
    • Creation of F4 funicular system, a 1 km line

United Kingdom

United States


Planned 2023 openings

Almost 1,100 kilometers of fixed-guideway urban transit is planned to open in 2023 in the parts of the world covered by Transit Explorer. Of these, about half will be in the form of metro rail services. The countries with the largest expansions planned for opening are the United States (242 kilometers); Saudi Arabia (169 kilometers); Turkiye (127 kilometers); Mexico (98 kilometers); and Canada (78 kilometers). That said, all investments aren’t equal: 57 percent of new US route kilometers will be bus rapid transit or arterial rapid transit. In many other countries, new kilometers are much more likely to be metro rail or light rail services: Saudi Arabia (100 percent); Turkiye (83 percent); and Canada (93 percent).

Brasil

  • Rio de Janeiro: TransBrasil, 32 km bus rapid transit route

Canada

Chile

  • Santiago:
    • Line 2, extension to El Pino, 5 km
    • Line 3, extension to Plaza de Quilicura, 3 km
    • Creation of Teleferico Bicentenario, 3 km aerial tram

Egypt

  • Cairo
    • Line 3, 6 km extension to Cairo University
    • Line 3, 7 km extension to Rod el-Farag

France

Greece

Israel

  • Tel Aviv: Creation of 24 km Red Line light rail corridor, which includes some subway segments through the city

Italy

  • Catania: 3 km extensions of the Metropolitana system
  • Genova: 0.9 km extension of the automated light metro Metropolitana to Canepari
  • Milan: Extension of M4 9 km into the city center
  • Naples: 3.5 km extension of Line 6 light metro line

Mexico

Netherlands

  • Rotterdam: Extension of Line B metro to Hoek van Holland, 2 km

Nigeria

Panama

  • Panama: Line 2, 2 km extension to the airport

Russia

  • Moscow
    • Extension of metro line 8A, 5 km
    • Extension of metro line 10, 6 km
    • Extensions of metro line 11, 19 km
    • Creation of metro line 16, 15 km line

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

  • Dakar: Extension of the Train express régional commuter rail to AIBD, 19 km

Spain

Turkiye

  • Ankara: 3.5 km extension of M4 metro to 15 Temmuz Kizilay Milli Irade
  • Gebze: Creation of 16 km M1 metro
  • Istanbul:
    • M3 extensions to Barkirkoy IDO (8.5 km) and Kayasehir Merkez (6 km)
    • M5 extension to Sancaktepe Sehir Hastanesi (3 km)
    • Creation of M8 metro, 14 km
    • M9 extension to Atakoy, 11 km
    • M11 extensions to Gayrettepe (3 km) and Halkali (33 km)
    • Tramway T5 extension to Eminonu, 1 km
    • Creation of T6 tramway, 8.5 km
  • Izmir:
    • M1 metro extension to Kaymakamlik hatti, 7 km
    • T1 tramway extension, 1.5 km
    • Creation of T3 tramway, 10 km

United Kingdom

United States


Under construction in 2023

Among the countries in the Transit Explorer database, there will be roughly 1,900 kilometers of new fixed–guideway urban transit projects under construction in 2023, but planned to be opened after 2023. About 43 percent of those kilometers will be in the form of metro services. 554 kilometers will be under construction in the United States, 305 kilometers in France, and 172 kilometers in Canada.

Algeria

Argentina

  • Buenos Aires: Belgrano Sur commuter rail line, 4 km extension

Austria

Azerbaijan

  • Baku:
    • Green Line metro extension to Mohammed Hadi, 10 km
    • Purple Line metro extension to B-4 station, 1 km

Belarus

  • Minsk: Zelenaluzhskaya Line metro extension to Slutsk Gastinets, 4 km, opening 2024

Belgium

  • Antwerpen: Antwerpse premetro Kerkstraat route, 2 km, opening 2026
  • Brussels: T10 tram, linking Rogier to Neder-Over-Heembeek, opening 2024
  • Charleroi: Metro Châtelet Branch (light rail), 4 km, opening 2026
  • Liège: New tramway, 12 km, opening 2024

Brasil

  • Curitiba: Linha Verde bus rapid transit, 5.5 km
  • Fortaleza: Linha Leste metro, 6 km, opening 2024
  • Rio de Janeiro: Line 4 extensions, 3 km
  • Salvador:
  • Sao Paulo:
    • Line 2 metro extension, 9 km, opening 2026
    • Line 6 metro new line creation, 16 km, opening 2026
    • Line 17 monorail project, 8.5 km, opening 2024
    • Line 9 Mendes-Varginha commuter rail line extension, 2.5 km

Bulgaria

  • Sofia: M3 metro extension to Vladimir Vazov, 4 km

Canada

Chile

  • Santiago:
    • Line 6 metro extension to Isidora Goyenechea, 1 km, opening 2027
    • Line 7 creation of new metro line, 29 km, opening 2027

Colombia

  • Bogota:
    • Line 1 metro new line, 24 km, opening 2028
    • RegioTram de Occidente new regional rail line, 40 km, opening 2024
    • Avenida 68 bus rapid transit route, 17 km, opening 2026
    • NQS Sur bus rapid transit extension, 4.5 km
  • Medellin: Calle 12 Sur bus rapid transit extension, 1.5 km

Czechia

  • Prague: Line D metro extension, 1.5 km, opening 2029

Denmark

Egypt

  • Cairo: Cairo Light Rail Transit (metro) extensions, 22 km

France

Germany

Greece

Israel

  • Jerusalem:
    • Red Line tramway extensions to Neve Yaakov and Hadassah, 7 km, opening 2025
    • Green Line new tramway line, 22 km, opening 2025
  • Tel Aviv:
    • Purple Line new light rail line, 30 km, opening 2028
    • Green Line new light rail line, 40 km, opening 2028

Italy

  • Bologna: Line 1 tramway new line, 23 km, opening 2026
  • Cagliari: Line 1 tramway extension to FS station, 3 km, opening 2024
  • Florence: T2 tramway extension, 3 km
  • Genova: Metropolitana automated light metro extension to Martinez, 1 km, opening 2024
  • Milan: M1 metro extension to Monza Bettola, 2 km, opening 2024
  • Naples:
    • Line 1 metro extensions, 10.5 km, opening 2024
    • Line 7 metro, 6 km
    • Line 10 automated light metro, 14 km
    • Linea 11 metro to Giugliano-Aversa, 15 km
  • Rome: C automated light metro extension to Fori Imperiali, 4 km, opening 2024
  • Turin
    • Line 1 automated light metro extension to Cascine Vica, 5 km, opening 2024
    • Line 3 commuter rail connection to Caselle Aeroporto, 2 km
    • Alba-Ceres commuter rail connection, 4 km

Ivory Coast

  • Abidjan: Metro, 36 km, opening 2025

Luxembourg

Mexico

Morocco

Netherlands

  • Amsterdam: Tramway extension, 1 km

Norway

Panama

Peru

  • Lima:
    • Line 2 new line, 27 km, opening 2024
    • Line 4 metro to Gambetta, 8 km

Portugal

Romania

  • Bucarest: M2 metro extension to Tudor Arghezi, 2 km

South Africa

Spain

Sweden

Turkiye

  • Ankara: Ankaray metro extension to Sogutozu, 1 km
  • Bursa: BursaRay light rail extension to Sehir Hastanesi, 5.5 km, opening 2024
  • Istanbul:
    • M1B metro extension to Halkali, 11 km, opening 2024
    • M4 metro extension to Icemeler, 9 km
    • M5 metro extension to Sultanbeyli, 9 km, opening 2024
    • M7 metro extension to Kabatas, 4 km, opening 2024
    • M7 metro extension to Hastane, 9 km, opening 2025
    • M7 metro extension to Esenyurt Meydan, 14 km, opening 2029
    • M10 metro extension to Pendik Center, 5 km
    • M12 metro new line, 15 km, opening 2024
  • Izmir: M2 metro new line, 15 km, opening 2026
  • Mersin: M1 metro new line, 15.5 km, opening 2026

Ukraine

  • Dnipro: Dnipro Metro extension, 6 km, opening 2024
  • Kyiv: M3 metro extension to Marshala Hrechka, 6.5 km

United Kingdom

United States

Venezuela

  • Caracas:
    • Line 5 metro, 9.5 km
    • MetroCable La Dolorita aerial tram, 4 km
    • Metro de Los Teques Line 2 extension, 10 km
  • Valencia: Line 2 light rail extension, 2.5 km
Categories
General

Openings and Construction Starts Planned for 2022

2021 was theoretically going to be a big year for transit projects across the United States. Boston’s Green Line Extension, Honolulu’s Rail Transit, Los Angeles’ Crenshaw Line, Miami’s Downtown Commuter Line, and Washington’s Silver Line Phase II were all supposed to open.

None of them did.

The Covid-19 pandemic, difficulties keeping workers on the job, and failure in acquiring affordable materials all got in the way. But in a year of difficulties getting people to ride transit, perhaps the delays weren’t as problematic as they could have been.

2022, we can hope, will be different. According to transit agencies, 22 new fixed-guideway transit projects are expected to open this year across the United States. And many more are planned elsewhere around the globe.

Montreal's REM
Montreal’s automated REM project under construction (source: REM)

In this post, as in every year for the past 13, I catalogue all of the fixed-guideway transit projects opening and under construction in the United States, plus in many other countries.

This post builds off the Transit Explorer 2 database, which is frequently updated and provides information about existing, under construction, proposed, and cancelled fixed-route transit.

UK transit, now featured on Transit Explorer 2
All of the projects mentioned in this post can be accessed on Transit Explorer 2.

The database includes transit systems across North America and Africa, plus eight countries in Western Europe. It also for the first time this year incorporates the United Kingdom. Transit Explorer 2 now includes more than 21,300 transit stations and about 5,500 transit lines.

Data can be viewed freely on Transit Explorer 2 or purchased for non-commercial use in Shapefile, GeoJSON, and CSV formats for those who would like to use the data for research or other uses, such as in Excel, R, ArcGIS, or QGIS.

Previous compilations of new and planned transit projects on The Transport Politic (including the many that have been delayed) can be found here: 2009 | 2010 | 2011  | 2012  | 2013  | 2014  | 2015  | 2016  | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021


New transit investments completed in 2021

Though a smaller-than-expected cohort of new transit lines opened in 2021, cities across the United States, Canada, and several other countries brought rail and high-quality bus services into operation last year.

Long-planned light-rail expansions opened north of the San Diego and Seattle. Charlotte extended its streetcar line in two directions, creating a now-four-mile corridor through the city’s center. And Boston and Minneapolis took opposing approaches to improving their bus networks; the first installed center-running, dedicated bus lanes along a major urban street, while the second created a highway-running corridor designed primarily to serve the suburbs.

Boston's Columbus Avenue BRT
Boston’s Columbus Avenue Busway (source: MBTA)

Both Brussels and Paris opened new or expanded tramways labeled number 9–and London constructed an extension of its Underground network for the first time in decades. Each of these projects is catalogued below. Click on the icon to locate the project on Transit Explorer 2.

Openings in the US, Canada, and Mexico in 2021

  • Boston’s Columbus Avenue Busway, a 0.7 mile, center-running bus route on one of the city’s most-used corridors.
  • Charlotte’s CityLYNX Gold Line Phase II, extending the city’s fledging downtown streetcar in both directions into the surrounding neighborhoods—2.5 miles for $150 million.
  • Las Vegas’ Convention Center Loop, a short tunnel designed for Tesla cars that Elon Musk has promoted as the future of public transit—with little evidence to support that contention.
  • Mexico City’s Metrobus Linea 5 BRT, creating a long north-south corridor on the east side of the city.
  • Minneapolis’ Orange Line, taking advantage of the renovation of the I-35W highway to create new dedicated bus runningways and special stations from downtown Minneapolis to the south suburbs—17 miles for $151 million.
  • Monterrey’s Linea 3, expected to serve 280,000 riders a day—4.7 miles for about $440 million.
  • Reno’s Virginia Street BRT—1.8 miles for $80 million.
  • San Diego’s Mid Coast Corridor Blue Line, linking the central city with University of California at San Diego along a route mostly parallel to commuter rail services—10.9 miles for $2.1 billion.
  • Seattle’s Northgate Link Line 1 Extension, extending the region’s north-south light rail corridor north from the University of Washington, partly in a subway—4.3 miles for $2.1 billion.
  • Toronto’s Richmond Hill Metrolinx Extension to Bloomington—an $80 million project that will eventually form part of the GO RER regional rail network.
San Diego's Blue Line Extension
San Diego’s Blue Line Extension (source: MTS)

Openings in Africa and Western Europe in 2021

  • Brussels’ Tramway 9 Extension, adding a mile of service north of the city.
  • Dakar’s regional commuter train, running east from the Atlantic coast
  • London’s Northern Line extension to Battersea, the city’s first Underground extension in the 21st century, connecting to a new development zone.
  • Paris’ Tramway 9, a new 6.4-mile line linking the city limits with the suburbs of Ivry, Vitry, and Orly, and the most recent addition to a regional tramway network that now serves more than one million daily riders.
Paris' Tramway 9
Paris’ Tramway 9 (source: Yonah Freemark)

Planned 2022 openings

2022 will be a blockbuster year for transit expansion if the projects currently announced come to fruition.

The next 11 months are expected to bring the first phase of Honolulu’s rail line, the second phase of Washington’s Silver Line, an extension of Boston’s Green Line, and new light-rail subways through the downtowns of both Los Angeles and San Francisco. Three US cities–Milwaukee, Seattle, and Tempe–will activate new streetcar corridors. And bus rapid transit lines of varying quality will come online, some little different than a normal bus (like Birmingham’s Xpress BRT), some involving considerable dedicated right-of-way (like San Francisco’s Van Ness BRT).

The biggest US project opening this year, or at least the most expensive, is the East Side Access project, a new tunnel for Long Island Rail Road trains to journey from Queens into Grand Central Terminal. The more than $11 billion project, expected to open in December, will save commuters to East Midtown from Nassau and Suffolk Counties huge amounts of time–if they ever make their way back to the office.

Outside the US, Montreal is planning to open the first phase of its automated rail system, and Edmonton and Toronto will add new light-rail corridors. In Africa, new metro extensions are planned for Alger, Cairo, and Lagos. And new subway extensions are expected in London (the long-anticipated Elizabeth Line), Milano (the first phase of the automated M4 metro route), Paris (expansions of the M4 and M12 lines) and Rennes (a second automated line).

Planned US heavy rail openings in 2022

  • Honolulu’s Rail Transit Phase I, connecting Kapolei to Aloha Stadium, not yet making it to the airport or downtown. The remainder of the line may take until 2031 to open, despite the project being originally scheduled for completion in 2020—at half the cost.
  • Washington’s Silver Line Phase II, providing new service west from the current terminus at Reston, and providing a new elevated station at Dulles Airport—11.4 miles for $2.8 billon. This project has been delayed repeatedly; it was originally supposed to open in 2016.
Honolulu's rail transit
Honouliuli station along Honolulu’s new rail transit line (source: HART)

Planned US light rail openings in 2022

  • Boston’s Green Line Extension, providing service west of Lechmere into Somerville and Medford on two branches, the first Boston-region rapid transit expansion in decades—4.7 miles for $2.3 billion.
  • Los Angeles’ Crenshaw Line, running from the Expo Line to the Green Line, designed to allow a future connection to the LAX airport people mover (which is also under construction)—8.5 miles for $2.1 billion. This project was delayed from a 2020 opening.
  • Los Angeles’ Regional Connector LRT, a new downtown subway for light rail lines, allowing through running between Santa Monica and East L.A., and between Long Beach and the San Gabriel Valley—1.9 miles for $1.8 billion.
  • San Francisco’s Central Subway LRT, creating a second, perpendicular subway downtown for light rail routes—1.7 miles for $1.6 billion.
San Francisco's Central Subway
Chinatown/Rose Pak station on San Francisco’s Central Subway (source: SFMTA)

Planned US streetcar openings in 2022

  • Milwaukee’s Lakefront streetcar extension, adding a small portion to the city’s downtown service—0.4 miles for $29 million.
  • Seattle’s Line T Hilltop extension, extending Tacoma’s streetcar service in anticipation of future light rail connections—2.4 miles for $166 million.
  • Tempe’s Streetcar, an C-shaped in the eastern suburbs of Phoenix, connected to that region’s light rail system—3 miles for $200 million.
Tempe Streetcar
Tempe Streetcar (source: Valley Metro)

Planned US bus rapid transit openings in 2022

  • Birmingham’s Xpress BRT, an arterial rapid transit line running 10 miles east-west through Alabama’s largest city.
  • Chicago’s Pace Pulse Dempster, a new arterial rapid transit route from Evanston to the city’s northwestern suburbs—15 miles for $10 million.
  • El Paso’s Brio Montana BRT—19 miles for $49 million.
  • Milwaukee’s East-West BRT—9 miles for $54 million.
  • Minneapolis’ D Line, an arterial rapid transit line from North Minneapolis to Bloomington via downtown–$75 million.
  • Portland’s Division Transit BRT, creating dedicated lanes and flow improvements on the city’s most-used bus route—15 miles for $175 million.
  • San Francisco’s Van Ness Avenue BRT, creating a new north-south corridor on one of the city’s most-used bus routes—2 miles for $170 million.
  • Seattle’s RapidRide H BRT—7.3 miles, expected to carry 7,000 daily riders into West Seattle.
  • St. Petersburg’s SunRunner BRT, a dedicated-lane bus service along Central Avenue to the beach—11 miles for $44 million.
San Francisco's Van Ness BRT
San Francisco’s Van Ness Avenue BRT (source: SFMTA)

Planned US commuter rail openings in 2022

  • Marin County’s SMART Train Extension to Windsor, adding a few miles to the line—3 miles for $65 million.
  • Miami’s Downtown Link, taking advantage of the construction of Brightline’s intercity rail terminus to bring commuter trains to the city center for the first time—9 miles for $69 million. This project has continued to be delayed from a 2020 opening.
  • New York’s East Side Access, the commuter rail link for Long Island Rail Road Access to Grand Central Terminal—roughly 3 miles for $11.1 billion. This project has been delayed repeatedly; it was originally supposed to open in 2015.
  • San Bernardino’s Arrow Redlands commuter rail extension—9 miles for $360 million.
New York's East Side Access
New York’s East Side Access project (source: MTA)

Planned 2022 openings in Canada

  • Edmonton’s Valley Line Stage I Southeast—8.1 miles for about $1.8 billion.
  • Montreal’s SRB Pie-IX BRT, dedicated lanes for buses along a major north-south corridor on the city’s east side—6.8 miles for about $400 million.
  • Montreal’s REM Phase I, new automated rail service to the south shore of the city. More extensions coming in the next few years.
  • Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown LRT, an east-west light rail project with a subway section through the city’s midtown—11.8 miles for around $6.4 billion.
Toronto's Eglinton Crosstown
Overhead wire installation on Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown Line 5 (source: Metrolinx)

Planned 2022 openings in Africa

  • Alger’s Line 1 extension to Baraki, a short expansion of the recently opened metro system in this coastal city.
  • Cairo’s 41-mile interurban line linking Cairo with the new capital city at 10th of Ramadan.
  • Cairo’s Metro Line 3 extension, crossing the Nile to the west of the center city.
  • Johannesburg’s Rea Vaya Phase IC bus rapid transit line, building up a network of effective local public transportation routes.
  • Lagos’ Blue Line, a 16.8 mile rapid transit system that will ensure speedy travel in this sprawling megalopolis.
Lagos' Blue Line
Lagos’ Blue Line (source: Solasly)

Planned 2022 openings in France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom

  • Birmingham’s West Midlands Metro light rail extensions to Wolverhampton and the west side of the city.
  • Blackpool’s Tramway extension, adding a short link to the rail station.
  • Catania’s Metropolitana, a 1.1-mile extension of the city’s metro system through the historic center.
  • London’s Elizabeth Line central section, a new subway tunnel creating an east-west regional link through the UK capital, extending services that currently terminate at Liverpool Street and Paddington.
  • London’s Overground Extension to Barking Riverside, connecting the regional rail system to a far eastern neighborhood.
  • London’s Luton DART, an automated people mover connecting the regional rail system with the airport.
  • Luxembourg’s Tramway T1 extension, extending the service south of the main rail station.
  • Malaga’s Metro lines 1 and 2 extensions, bringing the service into the center of the city.
  • Milano’s M4 metro first phase, a new automated, east-west, cross-city link.
  • Paris’ M4 metro extension to Bagneux (already opened in January 2022), a 1.7-mile extension of the city’s second-most frequently line south to the suburb of Bagneux and a future link to M15.
  • Paris’ M12 metro extension north to Aubervilliers, where the metro will also link to the future M15.
  • Paris’ Tramway 13 Express, a north-south tram-train line running 11.7 miles in the city’s western suburbs.
  • Rennes’ Metro B, an 8.8-mile second heavy rail route for this medium-sized city in western France. The line will be fully automated.
  • Rotterdam’s Line B extension, connecting the line to the North Sea.
  • Toulouse’s Teleo Aerial Tramway, crossing the city’s south side and linking with medical complexes.
  • Valencia’s Line 10 tramway line, a new route from the center to the southeast.
London Paddington on Crossrail
Paddington station on London’s Elizabeth Line (source: Crossrail Ltd)

Under construction, with planned opening in 2023

Undoubtedly some of the projects planned for opening this year will be delayed for 2023. But there are dozens of additional projects already under construction and planned for 2023 openings. Some of the most transformative will be a new light rail line connecting Seattle with its suburb Bellevue; a second metro rail line in Lagos; a new regional rail tunnel in Paris; and two light rail expansions in Porto.

Planned US openings in 2023

Seattle's East Link
The East Link tunnel under downtown Bellevue, east of Seattle (source: Sound Transit).
  • Orange County’s OC Streetcar, connecting to Metrolink commuter rail service—4.1 miles for $408 million.
  • Salt Lake City’s Ogden/Weber State University BRT, adding dedicated lanes and a high-quality bus route to light rail service—5.3 miles for $100 million.
  • San Francisco’s Geary Boulevard BRT, offering new connections from downtown to the west side of the city after decades of planning—6.6 miles for $300 million (this is phase 1, just the eastern section of the project).
  • Seattle’s East Link Blue Line, new light rail service for Bellevue and other eastern suburbs—14 miles for $2.8 billion.
  • Spokane’s City Line BRT, creating improved bus service in the largest city in eastern Washington—6 miles for $72 million.
  • Vancouver, Washington’s the Vine Mill Plain BRT—$50 million for better service north of Portland.
  • Washington, DC’s Pentagon City Transitway Extension, a short BRT connector through Amazon’s second headquarters.
Spokane's City Line under construction
Spokane’s City Line under construction (source: Spokane Transit)

Planned 2023 openings elsewhere in North America

  • Gatineau’s Rapibus Lorraine Extension.
  • London, Ontario’s Downtown Loop BRT, creating new dedicated lanes for buses through downtown.
  • Mexico City’s Linea 12 extension, the latest expansion to North America’s second-most-used metro system—2.9 miles for about $150 million.
  • Mexico City’s AIFA Line Extension, connecting the commuter rail system to the airport on the city’s north side.
  • Mexico City’s Tren Interurbano de Pasajeros Toluca, a modern commuter rail service for the city’s southwest—35.9 miles for about $2 billion.
  • Montreal’s REM central segment, linking the south shore branch with future northern branches through the reuse of a tunnel under Mount Royal.
Ottawa Trillium Line South Extension
Rendering of Ottawa’s Trillium Line south extension airport station (source: City of Ottawa).
  • Ottawa’s Trillium Line South, adding new service to a light rail line integrated into a broader regional system—9.9 miles for about $1.7 billion.
  • Panama City’s Linea 2 extension to the airport, a 1.2-mile elevated addition to the city’s fledging metro system.
  • Toronto’s Line 6 Finch West, a new east-west light rail service northwest of downtown—6.8 miles for about $1.2 billion.

Planned 2023 openings in Africa

  • Cairo’s Line 3 extension.
  • Lagos’ Red Line, a 23-mile heavy-rail line that will build on the new Blue Line Corridor.

Planned 2023 openings in France, Italy, Portugal, and the United Kingdom

Paris M11 Extension
Paris’ Metro Line 11 under construction (source: Ile-de-France Mobilites)

Other projects under construction, with future openings

There are at least 70 other major projects in the countries covered by Transit Explorer 2 that are already under construction (or expected to begin construction in 2022), and that will open between 2024 and 2031.

This list will expand, particularly in the US, as more projects are funded through the federal government’s additional support for infrastructure projects.

Indianapolis Purple Line
Rendering of Indianapolis’ Purple Line (source: IndyGo).

Projects expected to open in 2024

  • Antwerpen’s Premetro, adding a short new underground link through the city center.
  • Atlanta’s Summerhill BRT, a 2.4 mile line extending south from downtown.
  • Birmingham’s Brierley Hill Extension, adding 6.8 miles to the West Midlands Metro.
  • Bordeaux’s St-Aubin-Medoc BRT—13.1 miles for about $200 million.
  • Casablanca’s T3 and T4 tramway lines, adding 8.7 miles to the system.
  • Dallas’ Silver Line, new rail service along the Cotton Belt corridor—26 miles for $1.1 billion.
  • Indianapolis’ Purple Line BRT, a full-featured route that doubles the extent of the city’s electric bus rapid transit system—15.2 miles for $155 million.
  • Guadalajara’s Linea 4, 13 miles of new light rail service.
  • Jersey City’s Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Bayfront extension.
  • Kansas City’s Riverfront streetcar extension, a 0.55-mile addition to the successful streetcar line, for about $22.2 million.
  • Lisboa’s metro green line extension, allowing the creation of a circular metro corridor through the city.
  • Los Angeles’ D Line (Purple) extension Phase I, more subway for the city’s west side—3.9 miles for $2.8 billion.
  • Madrid’s L5, 0.9-mile extension to Barajas Airport.
  • Milano’s M1 extension, providing two new stations north of the city.
  • Minneapolis’ Southwest Corridor Green Line, a light rail line from downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie—14.5 miles, $1.9 billion.
Atlanta's Summerhill Line BRT
Rendering of proposed station along Atlanta’s Summerhill BRT Line (source: MARTA).
  • Montreal’s REM extensions to the west, north, and airport.
  • Napoli’s Linea 1 extension, completing the circular route through the city.
  • Ottawa’s Confederation Line east, the latest extension of that city’s light rail system—7.5 miles for about $1.3 billion.
  • Paris’ M14 south—8.7 miles linking central Paris with Orly Airport.
  • Paris’ M14 north to St. Denis-Pleyel—1.1 miles of automated rail connecting St. Denis with a major new intermodal center in time for the Olympics.
  • Paris’ RER E western extension, providing service west of La Defense and doubling the length of the line.
  • Paris’ T Zen 3 BRT, extending 5.8 miles northeast from the city center.
  • Paris’ T Zen 4 BRT, running through the southeastern suburbs.
Paris Line 14
New tunnel along Paris’ Line 14 South (source: RATP).
Hurontario LRT
Rendering of Toronto’s Hurontario LRT (source: Metrolinx).

Projects expected to open in 2025

Birmingham Eastside light rail
Rendering of Curzon Street station on Birmingham, UK’s Eastside metro extension (source: Midland Metro Alliance).
Montpellier Tramway 5
Rendering of Montpellier’s Tramway 5 (source: Montpellier Mediterranee Metropole).

Projects expected to open in 2026

Purple Line shaft at Bethesda station
Tunnel shaft for Purple Line at Bethesda station (source: Maryland Department of Transportation).

Projects expected to open in 2027

Calgary Green Line
Rendering of Calgary’s Green Line (source: City of Calgary).

Projects expected to open in 2028

Projects expected to open in 2030

Projects expected to open in 2031


Have fun exploring these projects throughout Transit Explorer 2!

Check out Bolts for local political news in the US.

Note: Updated with corrections as of January 24, 2022 1 pm ET.

Categories
General

Openings and Construction Starts Planned for 2021

The COVID-19 crisis put a damper on transit expansion throughout much of the world in 2020. Construction sites were paused for months, and then slowdowns followed, intended to address concerns related to worker safety. Tax revenues meant to pay for project costs declined. And ridership dropped precipitously on existing transit lines as white-collar employees were instructed to work from home. In the United States, questions were raised about what role future bus and rail service would have in an altered, post-COVID world.

Despite the death and pain the pandemic has caused, 2020 was also a year for optimism about the future of transit, especially, perhaps surprisingly, in the United States.

The pandemic made apparent to all of us the reliance our society and its economy have on underpaid, essential workers who are better users of transit than anyone else. The Black Lives Matter movement unmasked the systemic racism that underpins American society—and pointed toward the potential for new policies to promote increased social justice. The Congress made major steps toward increased funding for the nation’s transit systems, allocating $39 billion in two laws to keep trains and buses moving. And a new president, much more focused on ensuring effective public services, achieving social equity, and addressing climate change, was elected.

One can only hope, then, that 2021 will be a better year for us all. Let it be the year 1,000 transit systems bloom!

In this post, as in every year for the past 13, I catalogue all of the fixed-guideway transit projects opening and under construction in the United States. This post is built off the Transit Explorer 2 database, which is frequently updated and provides information about existing, under construction, proposed, and cancelled fixed-route transit throughout North America.

All of the projects mentioned in this post can be accessed on Transit Explorer 2.

The database has been expanded to include transit systems not only across North America, as previously, but also all of Africa and much of Western Europe. It includes more than 16,000 transit stations and about 3,000 transit lines, more than double what was available one year ago. In addition, for the first time, the database includes intercity rail lines, such as high-speed rail systems in France and Spain, and proposed projects in the United States.

Data can be viewed freely on Transit Explorer 2 or purchased for non-commercial use for $35-55 in Shapefile, GeoJSON, and CSV formats for those who would like to use the data for research or other uses, such as Excel, R, ArcGIS, or QGIS.

Previous compilations of new transit projects on The Transport Politic can be found here: 2009 | 2010 | 2011  | 2012  | 2013  | 2014  | 2015  | 2016  | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020


New transit investments completed in 2020

The COVID-19 crisis slowed work on projects throughout the world. As a result fewer investments were completed than initially planned.

Nevertheless, some major rail and bus expansions took flight. In the Bay Area, the BART rail system continued its relentless expansion around the Bay, this time making it to Berryessa on the outskirts of San Jose–the first step on an eventual route into downtown and Santa Clara. And a long-planned BRT line, the Tempo, opened, connecting parts of central Oakland.

Berryessa Station
BART’s new station at Berryessa, from BART.

That East Bay BRT line was one among several new-generation bus lines to open this year. Like the Uptown BRT in Houston and the Southwest Transitway in Winnepeg, the Tempo Line takes advantage of dedicated right-of-way, meaning faster service and a real improvement for passengers desperate for reliable, on-time transit.

The list below identifies projects completed in 2020 in North America. Click on the icon to locate the project on Transit Explorer 2.


Planned openings in 2021

If 2020’s limited number of transit openings were disappointing, 2021 is expected to pack a wallop. Eight enormous urban rail construction programs are finally coming to a head in the United States. In Honolulu, the first phase of a long-planned automated, elevated light metro line will open to serve the city’s western suburbs. In the western suburbs of Washington, D.C., the WMATA Metrorail system will finally reach Dulles Airport and, from there, head into Loudoun County. New light rail extensions in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Seattle–all under construction for decades–will finally reach completion. Streetcar projects are planned for opening in Charlotte and Tempe.

Boston’s Green Line extension into the suburban cities of Somerville and Medford, finally, will be that region’s first rapid-transit expansion for decades, adding service to downtown to some of the densest communities in the country.

Outside the United States, Edmonton and Monterrey will both be getting large expansions of their light-rail networks. Lagos will get its first heavy-rail transit line–and Alger will see an expansion of its metro into the south suburbs. In France, Rennes will get the second line in its automated metro system, and Paris will get both a new tramway line and a metro extension.

Heavy rail

  • Honolulu’s Rail Transit Phase I, connecting Kapolei to Aloha Stadium, not yet making it to the airport or downtown. The remainder of the line may take until 2033 to open, despite the project originally scheduled for completion in 2020—and at half the cost.
  • Washington’s Silver Line Phase II, providing new service west from the current terminus at Reston, and providing a new elevated station at Dulles Airport—11.4 miles for $2.8 billon. This project was delayed from a 2020 opening.

Light rail

  • Boston’s Green Line Extension, providing service west of Lechmere into Somerville and Medford on two branches, the first Boston-region rapid transit expansion in decades—4.7 miles for $2.3 billion.
  • Los Angeles’ Crenshaw Line, running from the Expo Line to the Green Line, designed to allow a future connection to the LAX airport people mover—8.5 miles for $2.1 billion. This project was delayed from a 2020 opening.
  • San Diego’s Mid Coast Corridor, linking the central city with University of California at San Diego along a route mostly parallel to commuter rail services—10.9 miles for $2.1 billion.
  • Seattle’s Northgate Link, extending the region’s north-south light rail corridor north from the University of Washington, partly in a subway—4.3 miles for $2.1 billion.

Streetcar

  • Charlotte’s CityLYNX Gold Line Phase II, extending the city’s fledging downtown streetcar in both directions into the surrounding neighborhoods—2.5 miles for $150 million.
  • Tempe’s Streetcar, an C-shaped in the eastern suburbs of Phoenix, connected to that region’s light rail system—3 miles for $200 million.
Aerial view of the city of Charlotte on the west side.
CityLYNX Gold Line under construction in Charlotte, from CityLYNX Gold Line.

Bus Rapid Transit

  • Albany’s Purple Line/Washington-Western BRT, the third in the region’s improved bus network—8.5 miles for $81 million.
  • Jacksonville’s First Coast Flyer Southwest Corridor, extending the region’s growing arterial rapid transit network—12.9 miles for $33 million.
  • Las Vegas’ Convention Center Loop, a short tunnel designed for Tesla cars that Elon Musk has promoted as the future of public transit—with little evidence to support that contention.
  • Minneapolis’ Orange Line, taking advantage of the renovation of the I-35W highway to create new dedicated bus running ways and special stations from downtown Minneapolis to the south suburbs—17 miles for $151 million.
  • Reno’s Virginia Street BRT—1.8 miles for $80 million.
  • San Francisco’s Geary Boulevard BRT, offering new connections from downtown to the west side of the city after decades of planning—6.6 miles for $300 million (this is phase 1 — just the eastern section of the project).
  • San Francisco’s Van Ness Avenue BRT, creating a new north-south corridor on one of the city’s most-used bus routes—2 miles for $170 million.

Commuter Rail

  • Marin County’s SMART Train Extension to Windsor, adding a few miles to the line—3 miles for $65 million.
  • Miami’s Downtown Link, taking advantage of the construction of Brightline’s intercity rail terminus to bring commuter trains to the city center for the first time—9 miles for $69 million. This project was delayed from a 2020 opening.
  • Philadelphia’s Media/Elwyn Extension, creating a short extension of SEPTA’s regional rail network—3 miles for $151 million.

Elsewhere in North America

In Africa

  • Alger’s Line 1 extension to Baraki, a short expansion of the recently opened metro system in this coastal city.
  • Cairo’s 41-mile interurban line linking Cairo with the new capital city at 10th of Ramadan.
  • Johannesburg’s Rea Vaya Phase IC bus rapid transit line, building up a network of effective local public transportation network.
  • Lagos’ Blue Line, a 16.8 mile rapid transit system that will ensure speedy travel in this sprawling megalopolis.

In France

  • Rennes’ Metro B, an 8.8-mile second heavy rail route for this medium-sized city in western France. The line will be fully automated.
  • Paris’ M4 to Bagneux, a 1.7-mile extension of the city’s second-most frequently line south to the suburb of Bagneux and a future link to M15.
  • Paris’ Tramway 9, a new 6.4-mile line linking the city limits with the suburbs of Ivry, Vitry, and Orly, and the most recent addition to a regional tramway network that now serves more than one million daily riders.
Illustration of a new station on Rennes’ Metro B, from Metro Rennes Metropole.

Under construction, with planned opening in 2022

2022 is expected to bring even more new transit openings, all over the world. Los Angeles and San Francisco will both get new downtown tunnels for their light-rail networks. In Canada, Montreal will open the first stage of its massive REM automated light metro program, and Toronto will start running trains through the lengthy east-west Eglinton light rail project, much of which is being built in a subway.

United States

  • Birmingham’s Xpress BRT, an arterial rapid transit line running 10 miles east-west through Alabama’s capital.
  • Chicago’s Pace Pulse Dempster, a new arterial rapid transit route from Evanston to the city’s northwestern suburbs—15 miles for $10 million.
  • El Paso’s Brio Montana BRT—19 miles for $49 million.
  • Indianapolis’ Purple Line BRT, a full-featured route that doubles the extent of the city’s electric bus rapid transit system—15.2 miles for $155 million.
  • Jersey City’s Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Rte 440/Bayfront extension—0.7 miles for $220 million.
  • Los Angeles’ Regional Connector LRT, a new downtown subway for light rail lines, allowing through running between Santa Monica and East L.A., and between Long Beach and the San Gabriel Valley—1.9 miles for $1.8 billion.
  • Miami’s South Dade TransitWay Corridor, the conversion of an existing busway with additional stations and better service—20 miles for $368 million.
  • Milwaukee’s Lakefront streetcar extension, adding a small portion to the city’s downtown service—0.4 miles for $29 million.
  • Milwaukee’s East-West BRT—9 miles for $54 million.
  • Minneapolis’ D Line, an arterial rapid transit line from North Minneapolis to Bloomington–$75 million.
  • New York’s East Side Access, the commuter rail link for Long Island Rail Road Access to Grand Central Terminal—roughly 3 miles for $11.1 billion.
Escalators at New York’s East Side Access project terminus, Grand Central, from A Modern LI.
  • Orange County’s OC Streetcar, connecting to Metrolink commuter rail service—4.1 miles for $408 million.
  • Portland’s Division Transit BRT, creating dedicated lanes and flow improvements on the city’s most-used bus route—15 miles for $175 million.
  • Salt Lake City’s Ogden/Weber State University BRT, adding dedicated lanes and a high-quality link to light rail service—5.3 miles for $100 million.
  • San Bernardino’s Arrow Redlands commuter rail extension—9 miles for $360 million.
  • San Francisco’s Central Subway LRT, creating a second downtown corridor for light rail routes—1.7 miles for $1.6 billion.
  • Seattle’s Line T Hilltop extension, extending Tacoma’s streetcar service in anticipation of future light rail connections—2.4 miles for $166 million.
  • Spokane’s City Line BRT, creating improved bus service in the largest city in eastern Washington—6 miles for $72 million.
  • St. Petersburg’s SunRunner BRT, a dedicated-lane bus service along Central Avenue to the beach—11 miles for $44 million.
  • Vancouver, Washington’s the Vine Mill Plain BRT—$50 million.

Elsewhere in North America

  • London’s Downtown Loop BRT, creating new dedicated lanes for buses through downtown.
  • Mexico City’s Linea 12 extension, the latest expansion to North America’s second-most-used metro system—2.9 miles for about $150 million.
  • Mexico City’s Tren Interurbano de Pasajeros Toluca, a modern commuter rail service for the city’s southwest—35.9 miles for about $2 billion.
  • Montreal’s SRB Pie-IX BRT, dedicated lanes for buses along a major north-south corridor on the city’s east side—6.8 miles for about $400 million.
  • Montreal’s REM Phase I, new automated rail service, partly on tracks previously used for commuter rail.
Illustration of Montreal REM light metro project, from REM.
  • Ottawa’s Trillium Line South, adding new service to a light rail line integrated into a broader regional system—9.9 miles for about $1.7 billion.
  • Panama City’s Linea 2 extension to the airport, a 1.2-mile elevated addition to the city’s fledging metro system.
  • Toronto’s Eglinton Crosstown LRT, an east-west light rail project with a subway section through the city’s midtown—11.8 miles for around $6.4 billion.

In Africa

In France & Spain


Other projects under construction, with future openings

The following list documents all of the other major transit projects in North America, Africa, and much of Western Europe that are either currently under construction, or that are expected to enter into the construction process in 2021.

This period will include the first elements of Paris’ massive Grand Paris Express project, which will connect much of that region’s suburbs with new metro lines. It will also bring subway service to Los Angeles’ West Side through an extension of the Purple Line–and massive expansions of Seattle’s light rail system, with new lines opening to the east, north, and south.

2023

New station at Porte Maillot on Paris’ RER E, from EOLE.
  • Paris Tramway 3b Extension, adding to the city’s circumferential tramway route with a new connection through Porte Maillot—2 miles.
  • Paris Tramway 10, building a connection in the south suburbs—5.1 miles.
  • Seattle’s East Link Blue Line, new light rail service for Bellevue and other eastern suburbs—14 miles for $2.8 billion.
  • Toronto’s Line 6 Finch West, a new east-west light rail service northwest of downtown—6.8 miles for about $1.2 billion.

2024

  • Abidjan’s Metro line 1.
  • Bordeaux’s St-Aubin-Medoc BRT—13.1 miles for about $200 million.
  • Kansas City’s Riverfront streetcar extension, a 0.55-mile addition to the successful streetcar line, for about $22.2 million.
  • Lisboa’s metro green line extension, allowing the creation of a circular metro corridor through the city.
  • Madrid’s L5 0.9-mile extension to Barajas Airport.
  • Minneapolis’ Southwest Corridor Green Line, a light rail line from downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie—14.5 miles, $1.9 billion.
SouthWest Station platform
SouthWest Station on Minneapolis’ Green Line Extension, from Metro Council.
  • Montreal’s REM, all phases—total of 41.6 miles for about $4.5 billion.
  • New York’s Penn Station Access, offering new Metro-North commuter rail service to Penn Station.
  • Ottawa’s Confederation Line east, the latest extension of that city’s light rail system—7.5 miles for about $1.3 billion.
  • Paris’ M14 south—8.7 miles linking central Paris with Orly Airport.
  • Paris’ M14 north to St. Denis-Pleyel—1.1 miles of automated rail connecting St. Denis with a major new intermodal center in time for the Olympics.
  • Paris’ M16/M17 first phase—the first of Paris’ four new metro lines, forming part of the Grand Paris Express metro expansion program.
Clichy-Montfermeil station on Paris’ future Metro 16, from SGP.

2025

Future Wilshire and Rodeo Station on Los Angeles’ Purple Line Extension, from Metro.
Vancouver Broadway Subway’s intersection with the Canada Line, from Broadway Subway.

2026

2027

  • Calgary’s Green Line Phase 1—12.4 miles for about $3.9 billion.
<p>16 Avenue N. station concept rendering</p><p>7 Avenue S.W. station concept rendering</p><p>Centre Street S. station concept rendering</p><p>Ramsay/Inglewood station concept rendering</p><p>26 Avenue S.E. station concept rendering</p><p>Highfield station concept rendering</p><p>Lynnwood/Millican station concept rendering</p><p>Ogden station concept rendering</p><p>South Hill station concept rendering</p><p>Quarry Park station concept rendering</p><p>Douglas Glen station concept rendering</p><p>Shepard station concept rendering</p><p>Green Line route map - Updated Stage 1 alignment</p>
Calgary Green Line, from City of Calgary.

2028

2033


Have fun exploring these projects throughout Transit Explorer 2!

Note: Several minor additions and corrections made at 12 pm ET 30 Jan.