Rail Cars

AAI Corp. of Hunt Valley began work this week on a $71 million contract to overhaul commuter rail cars for the state of New Jersey, a major award for the company that will bring in 145 new jobs.AAI beat Amtrak and Bombardier Inc. of Canada in the competition, serving notice that AAI intends to be a player in rail car overhaul."This is a very, very large win for us," said Jack Bell, the company's senior vice president for transportation systems. "There's no question this is a major steppingstone to our stated objective of being the leader in the U.S. for the overhaul of rail passenger cars."

A museum on wheels has brought four days of fine art to Taneytown, on a stretch of railway that normally runs raw stone and cement through this city of 5,000.Artrain opened yesterday and will stay through Sunday before rolling on to Bethlehem, Pa. While it is in Taneytown, about 3,500 people are expected to walk through converted rail cars that hold about 60 artworks by major U.S. artists, such as an original silk-screen by Andy Warhol, and paintings by Norman Rockwell and James Browning Wyeth.

Transit officials breathed a sigh of relief when Mass Transit Administration light rail cars moved gingerly across a rain-slicked elevated trestle's twisting curve yesterday in a crucial test of a new spur connecting the trolley with Baltimore's Pennsylvania Station.Motormen tested cars all day down a one-third-mile section of track that spans the Jones Falls Expressway, descends into the Jones Falls Valley and runs under the Maryland Avenue bridge before coming to a stop at Penn Station's Platform One."

In a factory off York Road where workers once made trailers used to load nuclear bombs into the bellies of B-52 bombers, employees of AAI Corp. are now welding metal into the shape of rail cars that will eventually carry passengers from Glen Burnie to Hunt Valley.The defense contractor's new effort at turning swords into plowshares will result in the production of the first light rail car made in the United States in more than a decade.This week the company completed the initial rail car shell as part of a $53.7 million order from the Maryland Department of Transportation for 36 rail cars.

Buyers carted away the EnterTRAINment Line piece by piece yesterday, as everything from furniture to dinnerware and crock pots to rail cars became the bargain-rate spoils of a court-ordered auction of the bankrupt company's assets.The Union Bridge excursion line closed in May, leaving more than 100 creditors and owing more than $300,000 in amusement taxes and interest dating to 1989.Despite yesterday's auction, some feel a new passenger entertainment train service could rise from the EnterTRAINment Line's ashes in Carroll County.

Buyers carted away the EnterTRAINment Line piece by piece yesterday, as everything from furniture to dinnerware and crock pots to rail cars became the bargain-rate spoils of a court-ordered auction of the bankrupt company's assets.The Union Bridge excursion line closed in May, leaving more than 100 creditors and owing more than $300,000 in amusement taxes and interest dating to 1989.Despite yesterday's auction, some feel a new passenger entertainment train service could rise from the EnterTRAINment Line's ashes in Carroll County.

Anxious to avoid a repeat of last winter's disastrous effects on light rail, the Mass Transit Administration has embarked on a $1 million effort to keep ice from shutting down the line.Sleet and freezing rain closed portions of the 22.5-mile-long Central Light Rail Line on at least four occasions in January and February -- usually for days at a time. Ice that formed on the overhead power lines often prevented the collectors, or "pantographs," on each car from making contact and drawing power.

The end of the line has finally arrived for MARC's fleet of Budd commuter rail passenger cars, a fixture at morning and evening rush hours at Camden Station for the past 40 years. The aged rail equipment is to be retired and replaced in a matter of days.The silvery, diesel-motored rail cars were made by the E.G. Budd Co. in Pennsylvania and purchased by many U.S. and Canadian railroads in the 1950s. Strong on reliability, performance and speed, the cars have long outlived their corporate parent.

Some baseball fans might be shut out when Baltimore's new light-rail line opens for limited service to Oriole home games, beginning with Friday's exhibition at Camden Yards.State transportation officials say they've had so many inquiries about the Central Light Rail Line from Oriole fans that they fear the system won't be able to handle Friday's crush. As a result, they're warning people not to take light rail to games at first, and they're keeping buses on standby to make sure fans aren't stranded.

Some baseball fans might be shut out when Baltimore's new light-rail line opens for limited service to Oriole home games, beginning with Friday's exhibition at Camden Yards.State transportation officials say they've had so many inquiries about the Central Light Rail Line from Oriole fans that they fear the system won't be able to handle Friday's crush. As a result, they're warning people not to take light rail to games at first, and they're keeping buses on standby to make sure fans aren't stranded.

Officials for Washington's Metro system are preparing to install video cameras on an unspecified number of rail cars, the first step in what could become a systemwide surveillance network that officials say will help them better manage crowds and investigate criminal activity. The agency's board voted Thursday to accept $27.8 million in grants from the Department of Homeland Security to pay for cameras. Most of the money will put more cameras on buses, in ventilation shafts, at station entrances and near the ends of platforms over the next few years.

A rush-hour collision between two crowded trains on Washington's subway system killed at least six people Monday evening and injured dozens, trapping commuters in a stack of twisted rail cars still being scoured for victims hours later. A six-car train stopped near the Fort Totten station on the Metro's busy Red Line was rear-ended by another six-car train on the same track. The impact launched the first car of the oncoming train atop the stopped cars ahead of it, tearing open the passenger compartment and leaving a two-level snarl of debris.

Strasburg Rail Road Easter Bunny Train Where:: Strasburg Rail Road, Lancaster, Pa. When:: April 10-12. Train departs on the hour 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday and April 12; and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. What:: Ride a coal-burning steam train on a springtime trip through scenic farmland with Peter Cottontail as the conductor. How much: : Adults and children 12 and older, $15-$22; children ages 3-11, $9-$11. Children younger than 3 are free. A dining car is available. Tickets may be limited, so call before you go. What's nearby:: Across the street, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania features a collection of more than 100 locomotives and rail cars on display.

It takes about two hours to fly from Baltimore to Chicago. But if you want to take public transit from Hunt Valley to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to catch that plane? The 25-mile trip is going to take at least as long. As problem-plagued as Baltimore's light rail system has been over its 15 years in service, one would think that every shortcoming had been exposed. Maryland Transit Administration officials have discovered a startling new one: falling leaves.

Baltimore, founded as an inland deep-water port, now finds itself losing a competitive struggle for the container traffic that carries much of the world's commerce. The Seagirt Marine Terminal, opened 18 years ago to help the port of Baltimore compete for this lucrative business, is struggling to cope with an array of operating disadvantages that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to remedy with no assurance of future success. A possible answer, port officials believe, is to lease the entire Seagirt facility for 30 to 40 years to a private operator willing to invest in making the facility a success.

Past time to invest in improved transit I find it fascinating that in all the years I've sat in traffic on Interstate 83 or Interstate 695 or Light Street, sometimes for 15, 30, 60 minutes, I've never seen an article referring to the cars packed on our region's highways, going nowhere fast, as sardines ("Angry sardines," May 8). I think there is a clear bias here. Why can we sit patiently in traffic but are "frustrated and irritated," as Michael Dresser put it, waiting for the light rail?

When the single-car light rail train pulled into Mount Washington station about 3:30 p.m., it was so crowded that David Utley couldn't board it with his bicycle to get to his job at Penn Station. He decided to wait for the next train - which didn't come for another 50 minutes. And it was so overstuffed that Utley just gave up. "Time for Plan B," he said as he wheeled his bike away from the station. The Mount Washington man is one of thousands of light rail riders who have had their lives disrupted as the Maryland Transit Administration grapples with maintenance issues that have sidelined more than three-quarters of its rail cars at peak travel times.

Rail transport experts say heat is the chief cause of cracked wheels on rail cars. Regular inspections can often detect such cracks before they lead to a catastrophic failure, but not always. "When a wheel fails, a portion of the truck the wheel is riding on can drop down ... getting under the train and causing a derailment," said Colon R. Fulk, a railroad operations consultant with Railex Corp. "Where this happens on a curve, an overpass or trestle, you can imagine the outcome." The Maryland Transit Administration found a crack in a wheel of a light rail car after the April 23 derailment of an out-of-service car. No one was hurt, and no other cracks have been found, but riders have experienced long delays and crowded trains as the agency has pulled cars out of service for inspection.

Public transportation can and should be a great thing in any city; it just takes a little marketing, a little money and a sincere interest and commitment to customer service. I have been using the Maryland Transit Administration's light rail system for my daily commute for three years. There are many positive aspects to public transport: less gas usage, less air pollution, less congestion on the highways, less road rage, camaraderie with other riders and a generally peaceful, efficient way back to the suburbs.

Light rail riders have been getting to know each other a little more intimately over the past week as increased safety inspections have forced officials to run one-car, standing-room-only trains at rush hour and other times. Jawauna Greene, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Transit Administration, said yesterday that the agency has had to step up its inspections of its 53 light rail cars after a wheel on one cracked about a month ago. The MTA sent out an advisory late yesterday warning customers of possible delays and crowding as the light rail system operates with fewer cars than usual.