Rail System

Hoping to significantly bolster transit service in downtown Baltimore, city and state officials are considering a major expansion of the light rail system that would create a rail loop through the center city to serve the east-side business district and the Inner Harbor. A transit plan, newly released by the state, recommends the project as a step toward the state's goal to double transit ridership during the next 20 years. A feasibility study won't be finished until spring, but planners are upbeat about the project.

More on Light RailRegarding your rather peevish reaction expressed in your editorial of May 18 to the complaints in the Linthicum/Shipley community over the increase in crime accompanying the light rail line, let me see if I have this correct: We shouldn't ban the light rail because of the criminal actions of a few miscreants, but we should ban guns?Perhaps The Sun should sponsor the establishment of the National Light Rail Association (NLRA), the mantra of which would be "Light Rail doesn't cause crime, criminals cause crime" and "When Light Rail is outlawed, only outlaws will have light rail."

Rail lines attract new residents and new riders Thank you for printing Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan's column supporting an expanded subway system for Baltimore ("Baltimore deserves more transit options," Opinion * Commentary, Aug. 7). An effective long-term vision of transportation in the region must include a vastly expanded rail system. I recently was involved in a survey of nine rail systems around the country to learn what works and what doesn't. And I was surprised to find that every one of them was highly successful at attracting riders and urban revitalization money.

This country cannot, will not and should not tolerate a prolonged shutdown of its rail system. It would undercut prospects for economic recovery, throw millions of people out of work, shut down factories, endanger the marketing of crops and livestock and interfere with rail commuters.What's more, such damage from the current strike/lockout would be less the product of a justifiable shutdown of a vital industry and more the result of an elaborate minuet in which the current election campaign provides the background music.

PHILADELPHIA -- For the first time in almost two decades, TC fierce battle between two large, financially healthy railroads is about to erupt in the Northeastern states.On one side is the defending champion, Philadelphia-based Conrail, the company that became the region's only major freight railroad when it was formed in 1976 out of the bankrupt shells of six other companies.After five years of heavy losses, Conrail has been a solid performer since 1981, in part because the 13,000-mile system has a near-monopoly on rail freight in the Philadelphia area and New Jersey, including the port of New York.

Don't blame leaves for light rail woes I cannot believe that leaves are what is really stopping the light rail indefinitely ("Stopped short," Nov. 18). It seems to me that the real problem is the braking technology the Maryland Transit Administration installed on the system in 2004. The light rail system has been open since 1992, and I am sure that leaves have fallen on the tracks ever since and that trains have ground them into a "gelatinous substance." So why, after 16 years, have the trains come to a screeching halt in the northern half of the system?

The Mass Transit Administration hopes to ease commuter frustrations through a service that alerts riders by e-mail as disruptions occur on their bus or train lines. The computer service, among the first of its kind in the nation, aims to give customers as much time as possible to adjust their plans when problems develop, officials say. "Information is power," said MTA spokesman Anthony Brown. "If we can help our customers plan their transportation and get relevant information, we've just made their lives a little bit easier."

The Northeast may be home to the most successful passenger rail system in the U.S., but it pales in comparison to its brethren in Europe and Japan. With highways and airports in the region likely to have capacity issues and greenhouse gas emissions an alarming problem for a nation that is so car-dependent, the need to upgrade the Northeast corridor is clear enough. But before U.S. travelers can contemplate futuristic 300 mile per hour magnetic levitation trains or even the 150-200 mph trains found elsewhere, Amtrak and commuter rail systems between Maryland and Maine need something more basic: better reliability and capacity.

Riding the MARC Camden Line to a conference on high-speed rail is a bit like taking a horse and buggy to an auto show. But that's exactly what I did last Thursday. And by the end of the day's presentations, riding the pokey old train back from Union Station to Dorsey, the sense of being behind the times was overwhelming. It came as no surprise that the United States is far behind Japan or Germany or France in high-speed rail. We've known for years that visitors from these highly developed industrial nations have been laughing behind our backs at our woefully antiquated rail system.

State officials announced programs yesterday aimed at ending what they called a "perception" that the light rail system is dangerous to passengers and delivers criminals from the city to the suburbs.While at the same time charging the media with overplaying coverage of transit crime, the governor praised the Mass Transit Administration for spending $100,000 to pay overtime to police officers from the city and Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties to provide extra protection at the system's 24 stations for two months.