Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 14, 2016

The Staten Island Railway (SIR) is the only rapid transit line in the New York City borough of Staten Island. Legally called the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA), a unit of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, it is considered a standard railroad line, but only freight service which runs along the western portion of the North Shore Branch is connected to the national railway system. SIR operates with modified R44 New York City Subway cars, and is run by the New York City Transit Authority, an agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and operator of the New York City Subway. However, there is no direct rail link between the SIR and the subway system proper. The Staten Island Railway provides full-time local service between Saint George and Tottenville along the east side of the borough. The line runs 24 hours a day every day of the year and is one of only six mass-transit rail lines in the United States to do so (the others being the PATCO Speedline, the Red and Blue Lines of the Chicago 'L', the Green Line of the Minneapolis-St. Paul METRO, the PATH lines, and the New York City Subway).