Penn Station

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 are three food truck rallies this weekend. First on Friday, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., nine food trucks will gather at Johns Hopkins University. That's going to be near the “Beach” in front of Milton S. Eisenhower Library, and there will be live music and beer. The Gathering , the regular weekly rally, comes up to Penn Station on Friday night from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Live music will be performed by Baltimore's own June Star. Discount all-you-can-drink wristbands are available through Missiontix, and the Parking Authority of Baltimore City will offer $5 discounted parking in the Penn Station garage.

Homes, offices and shops would sprout around Baltimore's Penn Station under a preliminary plan developed for Amtrak for the midtown site. The national passenger railroad tapped Beatty Development, the Baltimore-based developer responsible for Harbor East and Harbor Point, late last year to create a master plan and lead the redevelopment of about seven acres of underused land around the century-old train station. Beatty Development's vision calls for the construction of up to 1.5 million square feet of new residences and commercial space at a cost of about $500 million over the next decade.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Homes, offices and shops would sprout around Baltimore's Penn Station under a preliminary plan developed for Amtrak for the midtown site. The national passenger railroad tapped Beatty Development, the Baltimore-based developer responsible for Harbor East and Harbor Point, late last year to create a master plan and lead the redevelopment of about seven acres of underused land around the century-old train station. Beatty Development's vision calls for the construction of up to 1.5 million square feet of new residences and commercial space at a cost of about $500 million over the next decade.

Baltimore has witnessed love and loss. From the banks of the harbor to Mount Vernon's cobblestones to the grassed-over burial plots of Greenmount Cemetery, embedded in this city are vestiges of some of history's great romances, stories of people coming together and people coming undone. Pamela Regis, a professor of English at McDaniel College and as director of the Nora Roberts Center for American Romance, something of a scholar of the heart, sees romance in the possibility suggested by the harbor, in people coming together and separating at Penn Station, in the centuries old neighborhoods where generations courted, married and grew families.

A 66-year-old Towson man was struck and killed by a vehicle near Penn Station on Thursday morning, city police said. Terrance Walbert, of the 200 block of Dumbarton Road, had stepped off of a city bus in the 1600 block of Maryland Avenue when he began to cross the street, police said. A 1999 Ford Mustang traveling south unsuccessfully swerved to avoid hitting him, and Walbert struck the windshield and was thrown into the roadway.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.