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Rapid transit, also known as heavy rail, metro, subway, tube, U-Bahn, T-Bahn, metropolitana, or subterranean, is a high-capacity public transportation system found mostly in urban areas. Unlike buses or trams, rapid transit systems are electric railroads that run on an exclusive right-of-way that is grade-separated in tunnels or on elevated rails and cannot be accessible by pedestrians or other vehicles of any kind.

Modern rapid transit systems employ electric multiple units on rail tracks to transport passengers between stops, however other systems use guided rubber tires, magnetic levitation (maglev), or monorail. Stations with high platforms and no stairs within the trains need custom-built trains to reduce gaps between train and platform. They are usually connected to other modes of public transportation and are generally run by the same public transportation agency. At-grade junctions between a fast transit line and a road, or between two rapid transit lines, do exist in certain rapid transit systems.

The partially subterranean Metropolitan Railway, which began as a conventional railway in 1863 and is now part of the London Underground, was the world’s first fast transit system. The elevated West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, originally a cable-hauled line with static steam engines, debuted in 1868 in New York.

China has the most rapid transit systems in the world, with 40 systems running on over 4,500 kilometers of track as of 2021, and is responsible for the majority of rapid-transit growth in the last decade. The Shanghai Metro is the world’s largest single-operator rapid transit system in terms of route length. The New York City Subway is the world’s largest single rapid transit service provider by number of stations (472 in total). The Tokyo subway system, the Singapore MRT, the Moscow Metro, the Beijing Subway, the Shanghai Metro, the Shenzhen Metro, the Delhi metro, and the Guangzhou metro are among the world’s busiest rapid transit systems by yearly ridership.

Non-native English speakers use the term “metro” to refer to subterranean fast transit systems. Rapid transit systems may be named after the mode of transportation used by passengers in crowded central business districts; tunnels inspire names like subway, underground, Untergrundbahn (U-Bahn) in German, or Tunnelbana (T-bana) in Swedish; viaducts inspire names like elevated (L or el), skytrain, overhead, overground, or Hochbahn in German. Even if a substantial portion of the network (for example, in the suburbs) runs at ground level, one of these designations may apply to the whole system.

In most of Britain, a subway is a pedestrian underpass; the London Underground is referred to as the Underground or Tube, while the Tyne and Wear Metro, which is primarily above ground, is referred to as the Metro. The Glasgow Subway subterranean fast transport system, on the other hand, is known as the Subway in Scotland.

Rapid transit systems are referred to by a variety of names across North America. The term metro refers to a metropolitan area in abbreviated form. The Metro refers to rapid transport systems such as the Washington Metro, Los Angeles Metro Rail, Miami Metrorail, and the Montreal Metro.

Metra (short for “Metropolitan Rail”) is Chicago’s commuter rail system that services the whole metropolitan region, whereas the “L” is the city’s rapid transit system. However, the Boston subway system is referred to as “The T” by locals.

The Market”Frankford Line, which travels primarily on an elevated track, is referred to as a “El,” whereas the Broad Street Line, which is almost fully underground, is referred to as a “subway.”

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