Rail System

Leaders of Baltimore's medical institutions, colleges and universities rallied yesterday in support of a proposed east-west light rail line from the city's eastern border to Woodlawn, calling it an essential part of a robust urban transit system. Representatives of such institutions as Mercy Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Bayview, the University of Maryland, Baltimore and Sojourner-Douglass College gathered at the UMB Biopark for an event organized by the Greater Baltimore Committee to show support for its preferred version of the so-called Red Line.

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?

Baltimore-area residents will get a chance next month to voice their opinions on the best approach for proposed mass transit service from Woodlawn to Canton. The Maryland Transit Administration will hold five community workshops starting May 11 to update residents on planning for the east-west Red Line, said Tony Brown, deputy director of MTA's planning office. State transportation officials say the Red Line would be either a light rail system or a bus rapid transit system - a bus system using dedicated roadways and tunnels for portions of the route.

A new federal study commissioned after the 2001 Howard Street Tunnel fire recommends an overhaul of the city's convoluted passenger and freight systems as the only way to fix a network deemed vital to the country's transportation grid. Despite its strategic importance, the network is so antiquated that the lengthy report notes that one tunnel was completed eight years after the Civil War ended. The $1 million study was conducted by the Federal Railroad Administration at the request of Congress after the train derailment that sparked an underground fire and paralyzed the region's transportation system for days.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta insists he's not interested in dismantling Amtrak or cutting service in the Northeast Corridor. But David L. Gunn, whose recent ouster as Amtrak's chief executive is viewed by transit experts as a turning point for the railroad, says those will be the inevitable results of the Bush administration's transportation policies. One thing they agree on is that matters are coming to a head at the government-run national passenger rail system. "Let me be clear about this.

THE NATION'S passenger rail system shouldn't be treated like Oliver Twist - starved, orphaned and generally tormented. But Amtrak is, if you'll pardon the expression, getting the Dickens beaten out of it again under the guise of reform. The Bush administration has zeroed out Amtrak's budget to send a "wake-up call" to Capitol Hill. States would be expected to foot a significant share of the corporation's losses and, ultimately, privatize most of Amtrak's services. It's an ill-conceived plan.

THE BAD GUYS keep trying to stop the train, take away its money and cut the lines. But the story, at least for Amtrak supporters, always has at least a somewhat happy ending: Amtrak is rescued. And though 2005 is barely three months old, the same tale is unfolding again, and a similar finish is likely. The drama this year appears likely to become a rerun from the 1980s and '90s: President threatens to take away Amtrak's operating money, lawmakers from Maryland and other Northeastern states pledge they're going to stop this outrage, and then they claim a victory when they keep the trains running.

AFTER SO MANY years of slowly strangling Amtrak, the Bush administration has chosen a more expedient course -- killing it altogether. Mr. Bush may be the Dr. Kevorkian of public transportation. At least the latter's patients were dying. The U.S. passenger rail system has been on the mend, gradually attracting more riders and operating more efficiently. Amtrak survived near-bankruptcy a few years back. Can it survive W? The answer is probably yes, but a crippled passenger rail system isn't much better than none at all. Amtrak still has its core supporters on Capitol Hill -- and they're already speaking out against the Bush plan to break Amtrak up into two private companies, one to operate long-distance trains and the other to own the busy Northeast corridor.

From her West Baltimore home to her job at a Hunt Valley insurance company, Angelina Thomilson's commute usually takes about a half-hour on the light rail. Yesterday, it took nearly twice as long. Although it was only the first day of the northern half of the light rail system's shutdown, the 27-year-old housekeeper said, "I'm saving for a car." With the construction of a second track expected to take much of the year, shuttle buses have replaced trains that ran from North Avenue to Hunt Valley, creating longer commutes for some and confusion for others.

The Maryland Transit Administration system reached the halfway point in the $153.7 million task of adding a second track to the Baltimore region's light rail system yesterday as it reopened five stops in Anne Arundel County. The completion of track construction ends almost a year of headaches for riders who use the system's southernmost stations. But it also heralds a transfer of aggravation to the rail line's northern section, where 12 stations from Woodberry to Hunt Valley will close Jan. 3 for double-tracking work.