Baltimore: up and running - new transit system - includes related article on northern Virginia transit

Railway Age, June, 1992 by William D. Middleton

Festive events and free inaugural rides for the public mark the formal opening of America's newest light rail system by Maryland Mass Transit Administration.

It was a time of celebration in Baltimore last month, as the first segment of North America's newest light rail system opened for regular service.

The festivities began at noon on Tuesday, May 12, at the downtown Cultural Center stop on the Maryland Mass Transit Administration's new Central Light Rail Line. Schoolchildren, marching bands, and cheerleaders paraded by.

Maryland Governor William Donald Schaefer and Transportation Secretary O. James Lighthizer arrived on a horse-drawn streetcar, speeches were made, and a light rail train bearing the Governor and other dignitaries made a ceremonial breakthrough of a special mural created by elementary school students. Following the ceremonies, free rides were offered to the public.

Over the next three days a series of similar festive events marked the formal opening of light rail stops all up and down the line from Camden Station to Timonium. The line opened for regular service on Sunday morning, May 17, and Baltimore's first light rail commuters began using the line the following day.

Actually, Baltimore residents had been making good use of their handsome new light rail system for close to a month and a half before regular service began. Baltimore Orioles baseball fans had been riding special baseball trains to and from Orioles Park at Camden Yard, Baltimore's splendid new downtown baseball stadium, ever since the new facility opened with an Orioles-New York Mets exhibition game on April 3.

More than 4,400 baseball fans arrived at the park by light rail on that first day, and the Orioles' American League opener against the Cleveland Indians three days later drew even more rail riders. Still more fans arrived on special Maryland Rail Commuter Service (MARC) trains, and on MTA's Metro subway and busses. Altogether, some 30% of the fans in the park for that opening day arrived by mass transit. By the time the line began operating in regular service a little over six weeks later, 65,000 baseball fans had ridden light rail to the ball park.

The 13-mile, 13-station section of line now open operates from Camden Station in downtown Baltimore north to Timonium, in suburban Baltimore County. Light rail trains operate through downtown Baltimore in the mile-and-a-half-long Howard Street transit mall, and north of downtown over a former Conrail line rehabilitated for light rail service (RA, February 1992). Free parking for almost 1,200 autos is provided at four of the outlying light rail stations.

Initial service over the line is operating on 15-minute headways from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays. The basic fare is a $1.10 one-way flat fare for adults.

The service has been operating smoothly, says MTA spokesperson Kathleen Kohls. "Our biggest problem," she says, "has been lines at the ticket machines because of the number of riders. We've had to overcome this by selling tickets by hand."

Rail transit planning that led to the Central Light Rail Line goes back to the 1960s, although a firm decision to proceed with the project didn't come until 1988. With strong support from Maryland governor and former Baltimore mayor Schaefer behind it, the initial 22.5-mile Timonium-Glen Burnie segment of the line has been financed almost entirely from state and local fund sources.

Later approval of Federal UMTA grants enabled MTA to expand the project to a 29-mile line extending north to Hunt Valley, and with branches serving Amtrak's Penn Station and the Baltimore Washington International (BWI) Airport. The line is largely single track with passing sidings, with double track through the downtown transit mall.

Principal consultants for the project have been PB/MK, a joint venture of Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas and Morrison Knudsen Engineers, who have been responsible for facilities design and construction management, and DeLeuw, Cather & Company, who have been systems design and construction managers. Principal track contractors have been Dick Enterprises of Pittsburgh, Herzog Contracting of St. Joseph, Mo., and Lane Construction of Meriden, Conn.

Transcontrol of Pittsburgh has been the prime signalling contractor, while New York-based electrical contractor Fischbach & Moore Transit Group have been signalling subcontractors and the prime contractor for the overhead catenary system. ABB Traction, Inc. of Elmira Heights, N.Y. is supplying a fleet of 35 six-axle, articulated, double-end light rail vehicles for the line.

The remainder of the 22.5-mile initial phase of the Central Line will open in two segments over the next year.

In mid-August trains will begin operating over 3 miles of line south of Camden Station to Patapsco Avenue, adding three more stations to the line, while a final 6.5-mile section of line and six stations south to Cromwell Station in Glen Burnie will open in mid-1993.