Rail Station

The workers descend on the Falls Road light rail station like an army platoon, walking briskly to position and then attacking.Armed with brooms and garbage bags, the troop is good-natured but full of purpose.The enemies are all around them: cigarette butts, discarded cups, graffiti on the walls."They keep the stations clean, a lot cleaner than a bus," marvels Andre Jones, a convenience store worker who commutes by light rail. "I never see a lot of trash on the cars, either."Chalk up another quiet victory for the 42 mentally retarded men and women who keep the light rail trains and stations clean.

This summer, the state will open a light rail station at the new Ravens' stadium that is 12 times more expensive than average and will be used sparingly.Because of problems with the light rail schedule, the $6 million stop will be used only about 20 days a year when football games, concerts or other events are scheduled for the new stadium, state mass transit officials said.The Hamburg Street station is so costly because it includes features not usually found at light rail stops. Those include two long ramps and a pedestrian bridge to take swarms of passengers safely and quickly over the light rail and CSX railroad tracks next to the stadium.

A light rail ride comes to a sudden stopIf the Mass Transit Administration is interested in increasing its light rail ridership, they need a lesson in civility.Recently we took our 6-year-old grandson for a fun day at the Inner Harbor. We went to the Timonium Business Park stop to catch the light rail at noon.When the train came up, we had not yet gotten the last ticket out of the machine, due to a fussy dollar. We held up our hands to have the engineer wait a second longer, but he disregarded our frantic waving and simply took off.We had to wait another 20 minutes for another train.

THE DRIVE around Baltimore's Beltway and along Interstate 95 is a daily headache for many commuters who have no choice.Christy Griffith, 27, treasurer at Adams Express Co. in Baltimore, spends about 40 minutes driving her Mazda Miata to work each morning -- a reasonable travel time compared with many in the region.But as she navigates the congestion for the 24 miles between her Columbia home and downtown Baltimore office, she finds herself wishing there were another way. "If light rail would come through Columbia, I would take it."

Preakness transit service Light rail service * Take Light Rail to the Cold Spring Lane stop. * Take the connecting shuttle bus to the track. Shuttle bus service ends at 2 p.m. * Return service begins at approximately 6:15 p.m. and operates until 7:30 p.m. * $3.50 day pass required Metro subway service * Take Metro Subway to the Rogers Avenue Station. * Take the connecting shuttle bus to the track. Shuttle bus service ends at 2 p.m. * Return shuttle bus service to Rogers Avenue Station begins at approximately 6:15 p.m. and operates until 7:30 p.m. * $3.50 day pass required Local bus service * Nos. 27, 91, 44 lines, plus No. 54 via Park Heights Avenue all stop near the track.

Beleaguered commuters from southern Pennsylvania to Maryland will have a new alternative to driving down Interstate 83 starting today: hopping on a bus from York that connects with Baltimore's light rail system. York County's public transportation system, rabbittransit, will run six round trips each weekday day between York and Shrewsbury, Pa., and the Timonium/Hunt Valley area. The rabbitEXPRESS service, a three-year demonstration project funded by the federal government's Congestion Mitigation Air Quality fund, comes at a time when Maryland has been shedding commuter routes in response to budget problems.

Do you feel the nip in the air? Runners do. For them, the advent of fall means more than changing leaves and back to school. Cooler weather and coming races (the Baltimore Running Festival is October 13) make autumn the ideal time to run in the great outdoors. Baltimore is full of places to run, from stately neighborhoods to waterside paths. But for some runners, nothing beats the off-road experience. "Even if you start off easy, it's fun to explore," says Chris Cucuzella, a member of the Baltimore Road Runners Club, a trail running group.

Light Rail service * Take Light Rail to the Cold Spring Lane stop. * Take the connecting shuttle bus to the track. Shuttle bus service ends at 2 p.m. * Return service begins at approximately 6:15 p.m. and operates until 7:30 p.m. * $3.50 day pass required Metro Subway service * Take Metro Subway to the Rogers Avenue Station. * Take the connecting shuttle bus to the track. Shuttle bus service ends at 2 p.m. * Return shuttle bus service to Rogers Avenue Station begins at approximately 6:15 p.m. and operates until 7:30 p.m. * $3.50 day pass required Local bus service * Nos. 27, 91, 44 lines, plus No. 54 via Park Heights Avenue all stop near the track.

State Sen. Michael J. Wagner told a group of community leaders, residents, merchants, law enforcement officials and politicians last night that the chance of closing the Linthicum light rail station is "minute.""We know we have problems," said Mr. Wagner, a Ferndale Democrat and longtime supporter of the 27-mile commuter line between Glen Burnie and Timonium. "We need to talk about solutions."He is organizing a neighborhood group to discuss ways to curb the crime that some say light rail is bringing to northern Anne Arundel County.

State Sen. Michael J. Wagner calls the proposal by some elected officials and Linthicum residents to close the light rail station off Camp Meade Road "preposterous."Mr. Wagner, a longtime supporter of the 27-mile commuter line between Glen Burnie and Timonium, said he is organizing a neighborhood group to find ways to deal with the crime residents say it has brought into their community.The group, which will include members of the Linthicum-Shipley Improvement Association and business owners, is to meet at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Michael's Eighth Avenue.