Commuter Rail

For most of us, a trip to New York City means there will be rides on the Subway. Visits to Washington, D.C., are much more palatable when parking problems are traded for train rides on the Metro. Go to San Francisco or Oakland, Calif., and odds are a ride on the BART (short for Bay Area Transit) will be part of the itinerary. Chicago has its L (short for elevated). Boston has the T (short for transportation). Here in the greater Baltimore region, though, train transport is a realistic option only for commuters whose schedules are as regimented and predictable as the days of the week.

For most of us, a trip to New York City means there will be rides on the Subway. Visits to Washington, D.C., are much more palatable when parking problems are traded for train rides on the Metro. Go to San Francisco or Oakland, Calif., and odds are a ride on the BART (short for Bay Area Transit) will be part of the itinerary. Chicago has its L (short for elevated). Boston has the T (short for transportation). Here in the greater Baltimore region, though, train transport is a realistic option only for commuters whose schedules are as regimented and predictable as the days of the week.

A new commuter rail "superstation" in Dorsey to ease crowding at county rail stations is back on track because of state vehicle fee increases.The state Board of Public Works has approved $2.6 million tobuy 12 acres just north of Route 176 in the Dorsey Business Center for a $5.2 million Maryland Rail Commuters station.Louise Hayman, spokesman for County Executive Robert R. Neall, said the county is "delighted" to have the station, especially since Anne Arundel was hard hit with cuts in the transportation budget.

Amtrak, long one of the favorite whipping boys of fiscal conservatives, is getting another thrashing from Mitt Romney and the Republicans. From all the attacks, one might think that the nation's bargain-basement passenger rail system was the cause of the federal deficit. The reality is that Amtrak is attracting record ridership: 30 million passengers last year, and every month in the current fiscal year has been a record-setter, too. Amtrak ridership has increased more than 40 percent over the past decade, and that's not counting the millions more who ride commuter rail lines that depend on Amtrak infrastructure.

Maryland commuter rail chief Phillip D. Bissett quit his state post yesterday after learning that his campaign for Anne Arundel County executive violated a federal law restricting political activities by government employees who handle federal funds. Bissett, 48, a former delegate who narrowly lost the 2002 county executive race, announced at an Annapolis news conference that he would continue running for county executive. He said he was quitting his state job because of a May 3 opinion from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

The deaths of nine people in the crash involving two Washington Metro subway trains Monday evening was, as more than one person on the scene described it, a horror. It seems all the more so because such an event is so uncommon on commuter rail systems, particularly compared to the automobile-related carnage that takes place on our nation's highways each day. While it will take some time for investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the exact cause of this tragedy, myriad troubling questions have already arisen.

Beginning today, all rush-hour riders at the MARC commuter rail station in Dorsey will have to walk through a 20-foot-long box to be scanned for explosives, part of a test of a mobile screening device that eventually could be deployed nationwide. Harried commuters will have to remove their coats, but not their shoes, during the pilot program that will run through April 28. The federal Transportation Security Administration, wary of promising there won't be lines, is urging commuters who take morning trains to arrive at the station 10 minutes earlier than they normally would.

Keolis can bid for the contract to run the Camden and Brunswick MARC commuter rail lines ("Holocaust rail fight moves to Congress," Sept. 25). The survivors and descendants of those herded into cattle cars destined for Nazi concentration camps by the French national railroad, the majority shareholder in Keolis, will gain access to the records of their fateful journeys. That's what the General Assembly accomplished with the passage of legislation we introduced this past session.

The joys of living in scenic Western Maryland already have proved alluring to thousands of long-distance commuters who make their way to work in Washington or Baltimore on a daily basis. But now there is a chance to take these commuters off the clogged interstates and put them on comfortable and relaxing rail trains instead.A state study shows large potential ridership for commuter-rail lines running from Frederick, Hagerstown and Cumberland to Washington, D.C. Simply starting a Frederick-to-Point of Rocks line would generate 2,300 riders a day, say transportation officials.

WASHINGTON -- Driving was a breeze. Parking was plentiful. Sidewalks were semi-deserted a half-dozen blocks from the Million Man March site. Thousands of Washington workers, heeding warnings to avoid traffic gridlock, took the day off or found another way to work. By some estimates, up to 40 percent of federal workers stayed home or attended the march.The surprising result was an uncommonly easy commute for those who drove to work. But those who came into the city by train or subway encountered congestion, delays and frustration.

Keolis can bid for the contract to run the Camden and Brunswick MARC commuter rail lines ("Holocaust rail fight moves to Congress," Sept. 25). The survivors and descendants of those herded into cattle cars destined for Nazi concentration camps by the French national railroad, the majority shareholder in Keolis, will gain access to the records of their fateful journeys. That's what the General Assembly accomplished with the passage of legislation we introduced this past session.

Preston Capital Management is one step away from gaining zoning approval for a 122-acre mixed-use development across Route 100 from the MARC train station in Dorsey. But it is a very important step. Howard County zoning board members want to know exactly what the developer wants to build and how the project would take shape before giving final approval to a site plan. The rezoning case continues at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the county's temporary offices in Columbia. Preston's attorney contends that the firm has an easement that would allow direct access to the train platform via an existing street under Route 100, though permission for passengers to cross the CSX-owned tracks to the station is uncertain.

After reading "Transportation chief calls Amtrak lapses 'unacceptable'" (June 30) in Wednesday's Sun, I started wondering if other train systems are having the same problems we are. I mean, it gets just as hot in New Jersey as it does here, but I'm not hearing of their "hell train" incidents. Are they having any? How about the Long Island railroad? Or Metro North? Or any other system? Surely Baltimore can't be the only system with these problems. Or are we just not hearing about them?

The deaths of nine people in the crash involving two Washington Metro subway trains Monday evening was, as more than one person on the scene described it, a horror. It seems all the more so because such an event is so uncommon on commuter rail systems, particularly compared to the automobile-related carnage that takes place on our nation's highways each day. While it will take some time for investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the exact cause of this tragedy, myriad troubling questions have already arisen.

Make maglev part of rail expansion Ted Venetoulis is, pardon the pun, right on track with his suggestion that the corridor from Washington to Boston should be linked by a maglev system ("Maglev opportunity," Commentary, March 20). In fact, our entire national rail network needs to be upgraded and expanded, along with all commuter rail networks and local mass transit (subway and light rail) systems. This is critical to reducing our dependence on foreign oil and, more important, bringing an end to global warming.

As gasoline prices climb toward $4 a gallon, more commuters in Maryland are leaving their cars and trucks at home and hopping a bus or train to work. The Maryland Transit Administration will seek approval next week to expand service on its long-distance bus lines to accommodate a surge of new riders. The so-called "commuter" buses ferry workers to Washington from places as far-flung as Hagerstown, Kent Island and Ellicott City. The action comes at a time when ridership on almost all forms of transit - including subway, city bus and commuter rail - is up in Maryland and across the nation.

After 4 1/2 years of trying to woo business to the state, J. Randall Evans, Maryland's secretary of economic and employment development, has himself been wooed by private industry.Evans will become vice president for corridor development at CSX Transportation Inc., Robert L. Kirk, the company's president, announced yesterday.Evans, 44, said he will be responsible for developing new commuter-rail and light-rail lines for CSX. CSX Transportation and its 36,000 employees provide railroad service over an 18,800-mile network in 20 states, the District of Columbia and Ontario, Canada.

WASHINGTON - In the wake of the Silver Spring train crash that killed 11 people, the National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday that Maryland's MARC commuter cars "pose an unacceptable risk to the public" and urged immediate changes to make escape easier in an emergency.The safety agency also asked federal regulators to determine if the same "unsafe conditions" exist on other commuter rail lines across the country and to order corrective action immediately. John A. Agro Jr., who heads the Mass Transit Administration, welcomed the safety board's recommendations, saying they "are really confirmation of actions that we outlined" Feb. 21.At that time, MTA said it would make two of the three modifications recommended yesterday by the board at a cost of $6.5 million on its 110 rail cars.

La Plata -- The Maryland Department of Transportation has allocated $25 million toward acquiring and refurbishing a Baltimore maintenance yard now owned by CSX Corp. - a move that eventually could help it expand and improve its often overcrowded MARC train services. The money was the largest single addition to the department's six-year Consolidated Transportation Program released yesterday in Charles County. The 2007-2012 draft update unveiled yesterday includes $79.7 million in new projects added to the $13 billion, six-year plan.

Beginning today, all rush-hour riders at the MARC commuter rail station in Dorsey will have to walk through a 20-foot-long box to be scanned for explosives, part of a test of a mobile screening device that eventually could be deployed nationwide. Harried commuters will have to remove their coats, but not their shoes, during the pilot program that will run through April 28. The federal Transportation Security Administration, wary of promising there won't be lines, is urging commuters who take morning trains to arrive at the station 10 minutes earlier than they normally would.