Penn Station

The Charm City Circulator, Baltimore's long-awaited and long-delayed free downtown shuttle bus system, will make its debut today. The Baltimore Transportation Department will launch the Circulator by beginning service on its east-west Orange Route between Hollins Market and Harbor East via the Inner Harbor. It plans to start two other routes - a north-south route between Penn Station and Federal Hill and a route connecting Johns Hopkins Hospital with Harbor East and City Hall - in the spring.

Today is a big day for Baltimore (and East Coast) geekdom. It's Geeks on a Train : a rolling tweetup that started in Washington DC this morning, with a denizen of DC techies and entrepreneurs boarding an Amtrak train. The itinerary: stop at Baltimore and other major stops along the East Coast Amtrak corridor and connect with geeks and techies in other cities, all the way up to Boston. But there was an early snafu. The #GeekTrain broke down somewhere around Odenton, Md.  "Train now stuck and without power," tweeted @BenSlavin from the train.  In Baltimore, this city's geek contingent waited at Penn Station -- maybe it should be called Geeks in a Station and not Geeks on a Train, tweeted Scott Paley . Baltimore entrepreneur Greg Cangialosi tweeted a picture of the board at Penn Station, with the Northeast Regional #172, from Washington to Boston, saying "DELAYED" . But alas, Amtrak sent a diesel engine to replace the electric one, some tweeters said.

I will not be sorry to see the mechanical schedule board at Penn Station replaced, and I shall sbsolutely rejoice that vocal announcements are going digital ("At Penn Station, clack-clack no more," March 22). It has been nearly impossible to understand train announcements because of echoes and the unintelligable enunciation of the staff. Whirring floor fans in hot weather did not help, either. The final straw has been the rude and condescending attitude of the representatives if one dared ask a question.

There was a fine coating of pollen on the car this morning, suggesting that the winter forced-air-dryness allergies are being supplanted by the spring filthy-tree-sex allergies.  Then, yesterday evening I tripped and fell heavily (I never grasped the technic of falling gracefully) at Penn Station in Baltimore, so that last night and today I have been nursing a painfully sprained and swollen ankle.  It's possible that my customarily sunny disposition may be somewhat clouded over.  So now I am at the paragraph factory to oversee the production of half a dozen sections by midnight or 1:00 a.m., making use of the long-neglected newsroom wheelchair, and giving a fresh sense to the term "hell on wheels.

Baltimore should take pride in the celebration of Penn Station's 100th anniversary. What a radical contrast one experiences approaching this architectural gem when confronted by the hideous man/woman statue. This eyesore is inappropriate and an embarrassment to our city which is desperately trying to improve its image. At a time when recycling unwanted metal is strongly encouraged, this statue is a prime candidate. Hobart V. Fowlkes

The Baltimore Department of Transportation will install a long-sought traffic signal and crosswalk next year on Charles Street near Penn Station to help pedestrians cross the busy northbound street, the city's traffic chief said Tuesday. Traffic division chief Randall Scott said the new signal at Charles and Oliver streets will remain green to northbound Charles Street traffic until a pedestrian pushes a button indicating a desire to cross. The new signal, which will be installed north of Mount Royal Avenue and south of the entrance ramp to Interstate 83, is expected to be in operation as early as February but no later than May, Scott said.

Three public groups are looking for a private-sector partner interested in building a transit-oriented development on a triangular parking lot just north of Penn Station. Amtrak, which owns the 1.5-acre development parcel, has set Aug. 5 as the deadline for groups to submit qualifications to serve as the master developer for the property, which is bounded by Lanvale, St. Paul and Charles streets and the Amtrak train lines. Amtrak issued the request along with the Maryland Department of Transportation and the City of Baltimore.

Around 10 a.m. Thursday an Amtrak contractor struck a 24-inch gas main on the property of Penn Station in Baltimore, a utility spokeswoman said. Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. responded to the scene and were continuing work on shutting off the gas line at around 2 p.m., said Rachael Lighty. Only buildings on the Penn Station property are expected to lose gas service because of the leak, she said, but BGE is having employees canvass the area to ensure no residential gas users have lost service.

It's a whole lot quieter in Penn Station these days - no whirring sounds, no clickety-clack of an old-fashioned, mechanical signboard bringing the news that your train is 20 minutes late. In place of the iconic board above the main desk at Baltimore's Amtrak station, there now hangs a large digital board that works intermittently as it undergoes testing. For live information, passengers depend on two small temporary digital screens - miniature versions of what travelers might see listing arrivals and departures at an airport.

With the Board of Estimates having given its blessings, design work on a new entrance plaza and underground parking garage at Pennsylvania Station can finally begin. When the much-talked about $15.2 million project is finished, it will provide a focal point for improvements taking place in the area of Mount Royal Avenue.The bad news is that the 550-garage is likely to be too small the day it opens because two nearby open-air lots will be closed. Meanwhile, Amtrak passenger volume is steadily increasing.

They met three times at Penn Station to discuss the robbery of a cartel's drug stash house, then on Thursday, strapped with handguns, gathered at a 7-11 in Hampden for a last-minute rendezvous before carrying out the plot, according to court documents. The whole operation was a ruse, however, set up by federal agents. It's at least the second time the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has used the method in recent months to identify and arrest home invasion suspects.

When it comes to customer service, Amtrak is easily derailed.  My nephew gave me an Amtrak gift certificate for Christmas. I tried to use it on Sunday when making reservations for travel to New York.   First, I went online. Nothing relevant could I see on the computer screen.  I called the Amtrak 800 number. The friendly man said I had to go to the train station to use the gift certificate.   On Monday, I went to Penn Station. The man at the counter made the reservations, then said he thought he'd better check with his manager to be sure the certificate could be used at his terminal.

Around 10 a.m. Thursday an Amtrak contractor struck a 24-inch gas main on the property of Penn Station in Baltimore, a utility spokeswoman said. Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. responded to the scene and were continuing work on shutting off the gas line at around 2 p.m., said Rachael Lighty. Only buildings on the Penn Station property are expected to lose gas service because of the leak, she said, but BGE is having employees canvass the area to ensure no residential gas users have lost service.

About 16 months from now, bicyclists will be able to ride from the Inner Harbor to Pennsylvania Station on a smooth path all their own. Little by little, crews working in the shadow of the Jones Falls Expressway are inching their way north, building a concrete and belgian-block median to separate four-wheel traffic from the two-wheel variety. The $3.5 million, state-funded segment of the Jones Falls Trail will start at Lee Street near the Baltimore Visitor Center, wrap around the Inner Harbor and follow the Fallsway to the train station.

I repeated a blooper in my recent column on the 100th anniversary of Baltimore's Pennsylvania Station that was caught by a sharp-eyed Roland Park resident and lawyer, John C. Murphy, who comes from a family of Baltimore architects. I had stated with the authority of numerous articles (some that appeared in this newspaper) that Kenneth Murchison, who had designed Baltimore's Pennsylvania Station, had been a member of the esteemed New York City architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White.

Baltimore should take pride in the celebration of Penn Station's 100th anniversary. What a radical contrast one experiences approaching this architectural gem when confronted by the hideous man/woman statue. This eyesore is inappropriate and an embarrassment to our city which is desperately trying to improve its image. At a time when recycling unwanted metal is strongly encouraged, this statue is a prime candidate. Hobart V. Fowlkes

Rush-hour commuters were treated to an unusual display of aerial activity yesterday at Penn Station, where travelers reported seeing two roaring Black Hawk helicopters follow a high-speed Acela Express train. The aerial convoy was sighted about 4:30 p.m. and was part of a military exercise, said Amtrak spokesman Dan Stessel. He would not provide details about it but said Amtrak periodically conducts drills with law enforcement agencies. Maryland National Guard spokesman Maj. Charles Kohler, whose office is near Penn Station, said the helicopters were UH-60 Black Hawk aircraft.

Jennifer McCahill's boy-friend lives in Charles Village. McCahill lives in Northwest Washington, D.C. This makes for lots of running up and down the railroad tracks, from Union Station to Penn Station, both love and loneliness on either end. But McCahill, on her way home from a weekend visit, doesn't seem too forlorn. In fact, she looks downright fabulous in her traveling outfit -- in particular, killer cowboy boots that are so not made for running to catch trains. WONDERING IF YOU WERE GLIMPSED?

All MARC trains will experience significant delays, ranging from 20 to 50 minutes, late this afternoon, the Maryland Transit Administration said Friday. The MTA said there was only one track available between Washington and Bowie, a track problem near Odenton, and disabled Amtrak trains at the New Carrollton and Penn Station stops.

Three public groups are looking for a private-sector partner interested in building a transit-oriented development on a triangular parking lot just north of Penn Station. Amtrak, which owns the 1.5-acre development parcel, has set Aug. 5 as the deadline for groups to submit qualifications to serve as the master developer for the property, which is bounded by Lanvale, St. Paul and Charles streets and the Amtrak train lines. Amtrak issued the request along with the Maryland Department of Transportation and the City of Baltimore.