I like trains.

Hello! My name is Shift. But many people call me... The train professor! Today, I'll show you everything I learnt about the trains, and trams in GTA:SA/MTA.

Types of trains

In MTA, you can be whatever vehicle you want to be, including all kinds of trailers for the Streak. But the most popular ones are the Tram, and the Streak. Each rail-type vehicle goes with the same speed, the acceleration time is the same, there is no difference between a trailer, and the Tram from SF.

Handling

The handling of these vehicles are very simple: You press W to go forward, and S to go backwards. But be warned: after a specific speed, the train will go off the track, and can't be put back until another map starts. To indicate when you are close to this speed, there is a shaky screen effect during that speed.
The fastest time to reach the "Shaky Screen Speed" is 34 seconds. The speed you go with when the effect starts is approximately 130 Km/H.

Routes

Although the only neverending route takes you through the whole map, there are 3 routes considering where you spawn into the tram.

The Flying route
To access The Flying Route, you have to spawn into your train in Los Santos. You will spawn at the Los Santos train station.

What's interesting in The Flying Route is that it follows the main route, but at some point, the train will turn left and fly off the rails.

While you're flying, the controls won't change, you won't be able to turn either left or right, but you can still stop the train and fly backwards if you want to. You can also reach the top speed of the train, you won't go off the not existing rail, the top speed is approximately 135-140 Km/H. Although you are flying, you still follow a specific route, which has no turns, so you will go straight forward all the time. It will eventually go back to the normal rails at the San Fierro train station.

From there, you won't go off the rails again, but go back to right where you began using The Global Route.

The Global Route
The Global Route connects the whole map. No flying, no going off the rails. To start it, you have to spawn the train in Las Venturas.

Interesting fact: since this is the main route that connects every railroad in San Andreas, you will have to go through the part of The Flying Route where you are still on the rails (and not flying). But here, when you would start flying away from the rails, you can proceed, without flying.

The SF Tram Route
One of the most exciting routes, The SF Tram Route will go through the whole San Fierro, using the railroads in the city. It is full of turns and intersections. In order to access this route, you have to spawn a train inside San Fierro.

This route won't go into The Global Route, unlike the other routes, instead it has its own circulation.

So there you have it! These are the infos you need to know about the trains in GTA:SA/MTA. Hope you liked it!