Routes

The state Mass Transit Administration has added four potential routes to the six it already is studying to extend light rail three-quarters of a mile from Cromwell Station to downtown Glen Burnie.The routes were suggested by Glen Burnie residents at a meeting Jan. 25.Ken Goon, MTA's director of planning and programming, said yesterday that the most popular of those routes would take the light rail line from the Cromwell Station across Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard where Dorsey Road turns into Eighth Avenue.

A woman was taken to Carroll County General Hospital after a two-car accident at routes 26 and 27 about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.Barbara Leigh Baker, 31, of Shepherdstown, W.Va., was released after treatment, a hospital spokeswoman said.State police said Karen Lynn Reuschling, 34, of Westminster, an employee of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental RTC Hygiene, was driving a state car east on Liberty Road and made a left turn in front of Ms. Baker, who was driving west on Liberty Road.Ms.

Despite strong protests from the independent contractors now holding school bus contracts, the Carroll County Board of Education voted unanimously last night to change the way it awards those routes.The board will now begin phasing in a system of awarding contracts based on bids, instead of continuing the practice of awarding to the first eligible contractor to sign up. Currently, all contractors are paid based on a formula that includes the cost of the vehicle, driver salary, fuel and maintenance.

Braniff International Airlines, the successor to Braniff Inc., the bankrupt carrier that suspended operations in November 1989, said yesterday that it would start service on four routes July 1.Its introductory fares, effective through July 15 without restrictions, include a $69 one-way coach fare from Islip MacArthur Airport on New York's Long Island to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and a $79 fare between Dallas and Newark and Dallas and Los Angeles.The...

State transit officials are focusing on two of seven proposed routes to bring light rail into downtown Glen Burnie, both of which would follow the popular Baltimore & Annapolis Trail Park.Both preferred routes would cross Dorsey Road from the Cromwell light rail station on a bridge and continue down the hiker-biker right of way, requiring a slight shift of the existing paved pathway.The paved section takes less than 12 feet of the 66-foot-wide linear park that the county bought for about $1.3 million.

WASHINGTON -- Bill Cotton, a United Airlines captain who flies Boeing 757 and 767 passenger jets between Chicago and San Francisco, does not usually think much of flying over Dubuque, Iowa, as prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration.Instead, he often requests permission to fly the "great circle" route, a curved line that is the shortest distance between points on the globe. Sometimes, to take advantage of tail winds or avoid head winds, he flies south, over New Mexico, Utah and Nevada, or north over Wyoming and Idaho.

Faced with brutal competition from airlines and too many unprofitable routes, Amtrak announced yesterday that it will scrap more than a fifth of its service nationwide and cut 5,500 jobs.Effective Feb. 1, the frequency of service will be reduced on numerous routes, including the Silver Star between New York and Tampa-Miami, Fla.; the Silver Meteor from New York to Miami and the Crescent between New York and New Orleans. All three routes include daily stops in Baltimore.In addition, one daily Metroliner and three of the conventional trains running along the heavily traveled Washington-Boston corridor will be eliminated on April 1.MARC, the popular, state-subsidized commuter rail service, will not be affected nor will Amtrak's Christmas holiday schedule.

THESE GREAT summer mornings give me enough time to fit in a much appreciated daily walk. The sun rises early, chasing out the night's shadows and throwing the city into a favorable light, the kind of tones that photographers and early pacers like. For years, I dutifully trudged up Charles Street and did six or seven loops on the Homewood Field at the Johns Hopkins University. This summer, I decided the going round and round was pretty dull, so I resolved to take in more of old Baltimore.

A strike by the nation's rail unions this week would halt trains on two of Maryland's three MARC commuter lines, Joe Nessel, the state's director of rail passenger services, said Friday.The strike threatened for Wednesday morning probably would force the closing of the two routes -- the Brunswick and Camden lines -- that operate over CSX Transportation tracks, Mr. Nessel said. Those two lines daily carry about 5,200 and 2,800 passengers, respectively.However, Penn line MARC trains that operate out of Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore over Amtrak tracks to Washington are expected to continue to operate normally.

Trans World Airlines Inc. won Department of Transportation approval to sell three of six London routes to American Airlines Inc., but the department blocked the sale of the other routes, including service from Baltimore-Washington International Airport.At a press conference yesterday in Washington, Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner revealed the DOT's final ruling on the routes' sales, upholding the department's preliminary decision that proposed American be permitted to buy the TWA routes connecting Boston, Los Angeles and New York to London.