Passengers

A passenger bus careened across a highway median strip and into oncoming traffic on Baltimore-Washington Parkway ,X yesterday, leaving eight people seriously injured and snarling rush-hour traffic between the two cities, authorities said.Police said four vehicles were involved in the accident, which caused a four-mile backup and forced police to divert cars from the northbound and southbound lanes of Route 295.Three of the injured were taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, U.S. Park Police said, adding that none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.

The future of BWI Marshall Airport can be seen in the new sweeping terminal roofline that hints of something big, the panorama of glass that gives street-side passengers a view of arriving jets and a cavernous security checkpoint with nine stations and the latest detection equipment. The first phase of a $100 million upgrade opened before dawn Tuesday and served its first bleary-eyed customers on their way to Chicago. The new Concourse C replaces a dark, funnel-like portal in the oldest part of the building, when it was known as Friendship Airport.

A Baltimore-bound United Airlines flight was diverted and a local family removed from the plane after the parents complained about the content of an in-flight movie. The February incident resulted in the passengers being escorted off the flight by police at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the family said, relaying the experience anonymously in a response to an article about air rage posted on The Atlantic Monthly's website . In a statement released to The Sun, United Airlines said Flight 683 from Denver to Baltimore was diverted to Chicago after the crew reported a disturbance involving a passenger.

Recently I boarded an Amtrak train headed for New York City. But as we embarked on our journey I was struck by the trash and debris strewn along the route. The dilapidated houses, abandoned buildings, discarded furniture and graffiti were more than I could bear. I wondered what passengers from elsewhere must think of Baltimore as they ride this route. If I were them, I wouldn't see this as a place to live or raise a family, only a place with a lot of crime and poverty. If travelers never got off the train to visit the Inner Harbor or see the cleaner sections of the city they might think that this is all there was. Not only is the train route atrocious, the route the Bolt bus takes leaving the city is just as repulsive.

In an attempt to increase ridership, two railroad companies are reaching back to the luxurious train journeys of the past. Beginning this fall, travelers with an extra few days and money to spare will be able to climb aboard seven richly equipped vintage Pullman cars attached to Amtrak trains on three routes. The promotion is a test of a partnership between Amtrak and GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, formerly known as the American Orient Express. It is the first time the national passenger rail service will be an active participant in promoting luxury travel, said Cliff Black, an Amtrak spokesman.

Trouble continued to dog the MARC commuter system Monday as trains were delayed for problems ranging from brake failure to malfunctioning traffic signals to downed trees. In the morning, a southbound MARC train experienced mechanical trouble, delaying Washington-bound commuters on the Penn Line, according to the Maryland Transit Administration. In the afternoon, at least one Washington-bound Camden Line train was running more than an hour late, while a northbound train on the same line was reported 37 minutes late as it approached Dorsey station after being delayed by signal problems and a downed tree.

With great interest I read Frederick N. Rasnmussen's piece on "Chills at sight of United States' return" (March 12) I'd like to add a personal comment. Not only were I and my young wife privileged to be on that maiden voyage from New York to LeHavre, France -- it was our honeymoon trip -- but a substantial number of young German students shared that privilege. Just a few years after the conclusion of World War II, the U.S. Congress passed a law according to which young Germans and Japanese, members of the major defeated nations in World War II, were invited to spend a year at U.S. colleges and universities, essentially to learn about the American way of life, about American democracy, all of this at the expense of the American tax payer.

BWI Marshall Airport reported this week that passenger traffic grew six straight months last year to post a 13 percent gain in November over the same month a year earlier. According to BWI officials, the airport served 1.7 million commercial passengers in November alone. Southwest Airlines led the airlines serving BWI with more than 896,000 passengers in November - a 17 percent increase over the previous year. AirTran Airways brought 270,000 passengers through BWI that month to post a 20.1 percent increase.

A man was killed and his passengers injured when his vehicle slammed into a telephone pole early Sunday in eastern Baltimore County, police said. Baltimore County police said the single-vehicle crash happened around 1:30 a.m. at Earls and Ebenezer roads, in Middle River. The two passengers, also male, were taken to local hospitals with what police believe are non-life-threatening injuries. Police are withholding names until family members are notified. jhopkins@baltsun.com twitter.com/realestatewonk Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

More than 4.9 million commercial passengers flew through Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in the first three months of the year, a first-quarter record, the airport said Thursday. The number of passengers increased 2.6 percent compared with a year earlier. Traffic increased 5.6 percent for Southwest Airlines, the carrier that accounts for more than half the commercial passengers flying through BWI, according to the airport. Cargo shipments also increased during the first quarter, up 3.2 percent from a year earlier.

A Baltimore-bound United Airlines flight was diverted and a local family removed from the plane after the parents complained about the content of an in-flight movie. The February incident resulted in the passengers being escorted off the flight by police at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the family said, relaying the experience anonymously in a response to an article about air rage posted on The Atlantic Monthly's website . In a statement released to The Sun, United Airlines said Flight 683 from Denver to Baltimore was diverted to Chicago after the crew reported a disturbance involving a passenger.

A motorcycle driver was killed and a passenger suffered life-threatening injuries on Sunday evening in a crash on Veterans Highway at Benfield Boulevard in Millersville, Anne Arundel County Police said on Monday. In a statement, police said that at approximately 9:09 p.m., on Sunday, officers from the Eastern District responded to a serious motorcycle crash. Police said that its preliminary investigation revealed that a 2008 Harley-Davidson motorcycle with two riders crashed after striking a cement median on southbound Veterans Highway.

When it was built a century ago, Baltimore's Pennsylvania Station was embraced as a new gateway to the city. The elaborate Beaux-Arts building announced Baltimore's significance to the nation and anticipated serving generations of travelers to come. Today, it remains an important passenger rail station, not only for Amtrak but for MARC commuter rail customers, most of whom are headed to and from the nation's capital. But its magnificent architecture suggests it's more historic than inviting.

I agree that distracted driving is a problem ("Pair propose way to stop distracted driving," March 10). However, making cellphones inoperable when they're in a moving car is problematic. Would this mean that in addition to the driver, no one else in the car could use their cell phone either? How would a device that made the driver's phone inoperable distinguish that phone from those carried by the vehicle's passengers? And when the software is part installed on the phone, how does it tell if the user is in a private vehicle or a passenger on a bus or Metro, where there's no reason people shouldn't be able to use their phones?

A driver on an Anne Arundel County road Wednesday evening lost control of his vehicle and struck a utility pole, leaving him and a female passenger with critical injuries at Maryland Shock Trauma, according to Anne Arundel police. A statement released by police officials Thursday said that at about 11:07 p.m. Wednesday, county police and fire departments responding to the area of Hammonds Ferry Road and Evelyn Road in Linthicum found a 1998 Chevrolet Corvette against a utility pole.

High winds and an overturned tractor trailer closed the eastbound and westbound spans of the Bay Bridge for several hours Wednesday afternoon. It reopened to passenger vehicles in both directions just after 6 p.m. The accident happened at about 2 p.m., when the westbound vehicle was struck by a gust of wind and forced against the guardrail. The passenger-side tires of both the trailer and cab were lifted from the pavement. The trailer was twisted like a piece of aluminum foil. The unidentified driver received minor injuries and was taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis for treatment, officials said.

The future of BWI Marshall Airport can be seen in the new sweeping terminal roofline that hints of something big, the panorama of glass that gives street-side passengers a view of arriving jets and a cavernous security checkpoint with nine stations and the latest detection equipment. The first phase of a $100 million upgrade opened before dawn Tuesday and served its first bleary-eyed customers on their way to Chicago. The new Concourse C replaces a dark, funnel-like portal in the oldest part of the building, when it was known as Friendship Airport.

Baltimore's newest train doesn't actually take anyone anywhere and doesn't have any schedule to keep. Adults may find the going a little slow (even though, at a top speed of about 6 mph, it goes faster than some MARC trains nowadays) and the quarters a little cramped. None of that matters. Kids should love the Maryland Zoo at Baltimore's Jones Falls Zephyr, a miniature train built just to their size and speed. And if that isn't enough, where else around here are they going to ride a train that goes past swinging chimpanzees, one where that bird watching closely as you chug by isn't a common everyday pigeon, but an African hornbill?

Passengers aboard a recent flight from Denver to San Diego might have noticed a whole lot of shakin' going on. The Harlem Shake, that is - a viral dance craze sweeping across the nation from sea to sky? The video shows passengers dancing in the aisles of a Frontier Airlines flight cruising along at more than 30,000 feet. According to The Catalyst , a Colorado College student newspaper, the students were traveling from Colorado Springs for an ultimate frisbee contest. While a spokeswoman for Frontier Airlines has said the seat belt sign was off and no passengers were in danger, the FAA is reportedly looking into the incident.

Port officials have asked the state Public Utilities Commission to set a flat rate for taxi services to and from the cruise ship terminal and three popular city locations. James White, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration, said passengers — many from out of state — have complained "that they are being overcharged and that taxi drivers are not turning their meters on. " He asked the commission to set a fare for trips to Fort McHenry, Pennsylvania Station and the Inner Harbor in the same way it established a $30 flat rate for fares to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.