For faster train travel, Amtrak wants to fix railway bottlenecks in Maryland

[mahatmakanejeeves]

For faster train travel, Amtrak wants to fix railway bottlenecks in Maryland

By Colin Campbell
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The Baltimore Sun
May 2, 2016 5:22 p.m.

As Amtrak trains whisk passengers hundreds of miles along the East Coast between Boston and Washington, they're forced to slow down at four pinch points in Maryland, where ancient railroad infrastructure can't accommodate the high speeds and capacity of modern train technology.

Officials have begun planning to fix two of the bottlenecks, the Susquehanna River Rail Bridge, which opened 110 years ago, and the even older Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, built under the city in the decade after the Civil War. ... Eliminating those choke points would speed up travel along the Northeast Corridor, officials say, bringing Amtrak closer to its goal: a two-hour trip between New York and Washington. ... Paying for it, however, is another issue.

Final design unveiled for replacement Susquehanna River Rail Bridge

While Congress has funded the relatively inexpensive planning studies, replacing the Susquehanna River Rail Bridge project could take up to a decade and cost between $800 million and $1 billion, according to Amtrak estimates. The B&P Tunnel is a $4 billion project. Neither has been funded for construction. ... The other two aging pinch points, the Gunpowder River Bridge between Chase and Joppa, and the Bush River Bridge between Edgewood and Perryman, have not received money to be studied, said Paul DelSignore, senior director for structures at Amtrak.
....

While Kathy Epple, president of a group called Residents Against the Tunnels, supports an improved Northeast Corridor, she has a slew of concerns about the B&P project. Vibrations from the trains could damage her 121-year-old, brick-and-plaster rowhouse on Eutaw Place, she wrote in a letter of testimony in February. ... If a developer's vision of a separate, magnetic levitation train between Baltimore and Washington, supported by Gov. Larry Hogan, becomes a reality, Epple wrote, it could poach passengers from Amtrak, leaving the tunnel to take on more freight traffic. Hazardous materials such as nuclear fuel traveling under her neighborhood are another cause for concern, as are the toxins released from diesel engines, she said. ... "I believe it is wrong to expose highly populated areas to these dangers," she wrote.

Uhhh, you live just northwest of downtown Baltimore, one block south of U.S. Route 1. (Seriously. Google Eutaw Place.) Would you rather have all that freight being transported on highways instead?

Residents Against the Tunnels

From vibrations to mosquitoes, plans to replace B&P tunnel draw concerns