Light rail endorsed for Purple and Red lines

[Sand Box John]

O'Malley Endorses Light Rail for Purple Line
By Lisa Rein and James Hohmann
Tuesday, August 4, 2009; 9:51 AM

O'Malley proposes two new rail lines
Adam Tuss, wtop.com
August 4, 2009 - 8:49am

[mrpete]

Maryland MTA is about to repeat history. That is, the Red Line will be single-tracked thru a one-mile single-tube tunnel under Cooks Lane on the West Side of town in order to reduce costs to increase the probability of FTA funding. Also two major Downtown stations, University Center and Howard St. are to be combined for the same reason leaving Downtown with three stations.

We're all aware of the operational and safety issues a single track tunnel poses. Regarding the two stations, the MTA is trading off potentially high ridership from the UMAB/University Hospital complex and apartment buildings for connectivity with the existing CLRT at Howard St. While the additional walking distance is about 4 blocks, for many folks in B'More that's a long hike.

[79MetroExtraMD]

Maryland MTA is about to repeat history. That is, the Red Line will be single-tracked thru a one-mile single-tube tunnel under Cooks Lane on the West Side of town in order to reduce costs to increase the probability of FTA funding. Also two major Downtown stations, University Center and Howard St. are to be combined for the same reason leaving Downtown with three stations.

We're all aware of the operational and safety issues a single track tunnel poses. Regarding the two stations, the MTA is trading off potentially high ridership from the UMAB/University Hospital complex and apartment buildings for connectivity with the existing CLRT at Howard St. While the additional walking distance is about 4 blocks, for many folks in B'More that's a long hike.

I second you on that. I remember the light rail double tracking project. Pain in the a**. A single track tunnel under Cooks Lane would cause delays and would repeat history. It'll probably take them 13 years to double track the section for about a year or so. Then you have intense opposition of the street running portions along Edmondson Avenue and Boston Street sighting safety concerns and how it'll divide neighborhoods. Then you have those folks who still think transit=more crime (such naive folks). By the time this is all said and done and up and running, I'll probably be long gone from Baltimore.

[Sand Box John]

It is my understanding that the Cooks Lane single tunnel will be configured in such a way that it will allow the construction of the second tunnel in the future to take place without closing down the existing one. The only time there will be and service disruption is when the second tunnel is done and the contractor modifies the interlockings to allow train to make use of the second tunnel.