interurban

1. (rail transport, US) An electric railway carrying mainly passengers between two or more urban centres.Examples: "interurban car, interurban line, interurban railroad"; "On the steam roads, the engine, representing with its tender an enormous weight, is required to generate enough power not only for its own propulsion, but drag after it a train of cars. Several important consequences result from this difference between steam and electric traction. First, on the electric railway single cars may be used, taking their power as required under such headway as may be required to accommodate the traffic, while the steam engine must for the sake of economy be loaded somewhere near its capacity, so that the service is necessarily less frequent than that offered by the interurban."; "Q. Took the interurban at Denison? A. Yes, sir. Q. And went from there to McKinney on the interurban?"US