Quote:
Originally Posted by jmecklenborg
According to this, Chicago is the only active rapid transit system system with third-rail grade crossings:
https://cs.trains.com/trn/f/742/t/156685.aspx
The LIRR definitely has third rail crossings, but it's not rapid transit.
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LIRR and Metro North both have third rail, and a few crossings left, but none on the main lines. There used to be a fair amount on the LIRR, but those were eliminated in recent decades.
If you take a train from Penn Station to Babylon, or a train from Grand Central to North White Plains, you'll never have a crossing. In fact for most of the main lines, you're never at grade. You're on an elevated structure, an embankment or a trench.
In the postwar decades, they converted the busiest lines to rapid transit-level infrastructure.