Longest stretch between two stations?

Metrolink has one of, if not the longest distance between two stations in the country, 23.7 miles between the Via Princessa and Vincent Grade/Acton stations on the AV (Antelope Valley) line. Anyone else know of similar (or perhaps even longer) stretches on other systems?

I don't know the exact mileage, but suspect that Carroll Avenue ( Michigan City Shops) to Hudson Lake and Hudson Lake to South Bend on the electified NICTD South Shore Line are each about the same length (23.5 miles) or a little longer. There used to be intermediate staions, but they apparently are now gone.

The December 1950 Official Guide shows South Shore mileage (no tenths) as 56 at Michigan City (presumably the downtown station, so add a mile for Shops), 75 at Hudson Lake, and 88 at Bendix Drive, making the distance 18 miles from MC to HL and 13 from HL to BDr--even adding a mile to the airport doesn't help. I checked a few others that came to mind, but nothing even tops 20 miles.

ExCon90

How about NJ Transit Princeton Express service - 38.2 miles from Newark to Princeton Jct without a stop.

drewh wrote:How about NJ Transit Princeton Express service - 38.2 miles from Newark to Princeton Jct without a stop.

But there's local service that takes care of the 10 stations in between. No, I'm not talking about express trains; many older commuter systems have expresses that cover 25-35 miles on average. I mean the physical profile of the line itself, where there are very long distances between actual stations...

doepack wrote:Metrolink has one of, if not the longest distance between two stations in the country, 23.7 miles between the Via Princessa and Vincent Grade/Acton stations on the AV (Antelope Valley) line. Anyone else know of similar (or perhaps even longer) stretches on other systems?

Dorian, I think you've nailed the longest distance between 2 stations. How about the SHORTEST distance? I'd nominate Metra's Beverly Sub stations. Seems you hardly get started and the braking begins for the next station.

For BART (urban/suburban heavy rail):
Castro Valley - East Dublin-Pleasanton: 10 mi

When the West D/P infill station opens next year, BART's maximum distance will go down to
Castro Valley - West Dublin-Pleasanton: 8.5 mi

It's unlikely that there will by any station in between CV and WDP, since that part of the line crosses the East Bay Hills.

The next longest is likely North Concord / Martinez to Pittsburg / Bay Point, at about 6 miles; the average separation of outlying East Bay BART stations is about 4 miles.

As to Metrolink, the San Clemente - Oceanside distance is about as great as the Via Princessa - Vincent Grade/Acton distance: 27 mi.

Rockingham Racer wrote:Dorian, I think you've nailed the longest distance between 2 stations. How about the SHORTEST distance? I'd nominate Metra's Beverly Sub stations. Seems you hardly get started and the braking begins for the next station.

Sorry to stray off topic, but I'll do better than that. (I'm using google maps.) The Beverly statinos are almost a mile apart. On Metra Electric Divison, 53rd to 55th is only a half mile.

For diesel territory, I have LIRR Glen Street to Glen Head on the Oyster Bay Branch at a half mile.

And don't forget Septa. I have Prospect Park to Norwood on the R2 at about the same half-mile. And I know that Center City Philadelphia stations shouldn't count, but my unscientific measurement has Suburban to Market East at 0.4 miles. And for the really splitting hairs winner...the Philadelphia Airport on the R1 has four stops within 0.6 miles.

Two MBTA examples in the just about a half mile are Wyoming Hill-Cedar Park (about 2700 feet if I got centered on each station in google maps) on the Haverhill line and Needham Center-Needham Jct. on the Needham line.

For shortest what MBTA Lowell Line between Winchester Center and Wedgemere 2600 feet via google

I think we begin to get into definitional issues.

The Amtrak Hiawathas can be used for commuting (1 1/2 hrs from Milwaukee to Chicago, with early morning and after-work trips): the gap between Sturtevant and Glenview is 45 miles. This isn't *called* "commuter rail", but it can be used as such. Technically, the Milwaukee District-North line uses the same track for local service -- but only south of Lake Forest. That only cuts the "station-free" distance down to 34 miles.

So really, that's the longest gap on a commuter *route*, though it's not part of a "commuter rail" corporation or agency.

Everyone: The LIRR has two long lengths between stations that I can think of off hand: First one-Amagansett to Montauk on the East End of the Montauk Branch-11 1/2 miles and Riverhead to Yaphank - 16 miles - on this stretch two stations were closed due to low ridership-Manorville in the early 70s and Calverton in the mid 80s.
MACTRAXX