Light rail in the United States

The United States has 27 light-rail systems, as counted by the Light Rail Transit Association, not including streetcar systems. Six of them (Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), San Diego, and San Francisco) achieve more than 30 million unlinked passenger transits per year.

Light-rail systems are typically designed to carry fewer passengers than heavy-rail systems like commuter rail or rapid transit (subway). They can operate in mixed traffic (street running) or on routes that are not entirely grade-separated.

They typically take one of four forms: "first-generation" legacy systems, "second-generation" modern light-rail systems, streetcars, and hybrid rail systems (light rail with some commuter-rail features). All use similar technologies, and some systems blur the lines between the different forms.

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