Proposed map of a Washington-Baltimore regional rail system

Created by Dan Malouff (www.beyonddc.com).

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Comments

bjh photography says:

Awesome concept.. how far along in the planning stages is this? The color scheme would throw me off for a little while, though.
Posted 41 months ago. ( permalink )

Yes, by all means extend arteries for sprawl all the way out to Hagerstown, Richmond, Harrisburg, and Culpepper. Development in the exurbs is bad enough without making it easier for people to commute two hours into the cities.
Posted 41 months ago. ( permalink )

owizard says:

beautiful!!!!!!
Posted 41 months ago. ( permalink )

rllayman says:

See my blog entry here:Transit without borders or five omissions "in" the Transportation Element of the DC "Comprehensive" Plan. This comes out of a long discussion about regional transportation thinking.
Posted 41 months ago. ( permalink )

Magoomba says:

Okay. MARC's main problem is connectivity. It doesn't connect with the Metro Subway in Baltimore at all, which would make it a hell of a lot more useful than it is now. I'm glad this map gives some concentration to 'long range rail plans.' But I'm a bit worried that if this were put into effect, that there'd be very little attention given to extending Metro service to Annapolis, for example.

Poor Charles County seems pretty ignored in this map. Couldn't we help them out by using the nearly abandoned CSX ROW as a MARC line, using Colorado DMUs as suggested by one rep?

Where is Crofton on MARC's 'purple line' in this map? They look suspiciously ignored... perhaps if this were Metro, running down the median of Route 50, maybe we could see a couple of stops where we'd actually need them?

Seeing a heavy rail train thunder into Parole-- especially one of those big stinky diesel engines, would frankly scare the hell out of me, as an Annapolis resident. I know full well there's no precedent for a freight tunnel, and well... Nimby galore here.

Here's one for the 'duh' file since this is all speculative, and we don't have to worry about cost for the moment. Why on earth isn't there a Penn-Camden transfer station at Relay, the same way there is at Secaucus in New Jersey?

What about poor Ellicot City on the CSX Old Main Line, that's sitting right there with an antique train station, begging to be used as a commuter stop into Baltimore by all the townies that inhabit it?

I'm a frequent MARC rider. I would love to see something like this carried out, but I seriously can't imagine what it would take to have this actually happen. I'm still crossing my fingers and hoping a same-day round trip from Washington DC to Martinsburg at noon will be possible before I die.

Ben Dalton
bennyhana2004@yahoo.com
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

c4bl3fl4m3 says:

In reply to mickpiq, you act like people don't ALREADY commute from these places. They do. Adding transit will just allow them to take public transit instead of forcing them to use their gas guzzling cars.

Also, what about this giving a cheaper alternative for people w/o cars who would like to travel to these places? I'm without a car and my parents live about a 35 minute drive from Harrisburg. I'd love to be able to get there on my own volition, but it's a long (and expensive) bus or train ride up there... having this might not cut down on the time, but it will cut down on the expense. And it will give greater autonomy.

In reply to Magoomba, yes, it doesn't connect to the subway directly, but the subway's only one line anyway. However, it DOES connect to the light rail, and you can go from the light rail to the subway at Lexington Market by walking a block between stations (a fact that isn't well advertised).

Also, do you REALLY think they'd extend Metro service to Annapolis? Let's be honest here... the Metro is a SUBWAY. All of these really long lines and extensions are great, but I think it would be better served with a light rail/commuter rail. It's what light rail and commuter rail is MADE for. Subways aren't SUPPOSED to be long distance things.
...

Still, all of this makes me really excited. I read once about a proposed light rail from the town next to my parents into Harrisburg. If this came about, as well as the above map, I'd be able to get from my place to a 10 minute drive away from my parents... all of my own volition. The ability to do this makes me extremely excited.

I, for one, welcome our new transit overlords. ;-)
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

rllayman says:

Hmm, good points. I will try to get Dan Malouff, who did the original map, to comment here. I just wrote a paper for a class, very brief, outlining why this should be researched. However, the paper doesn't get really deep into places where stops could be--it takes the map as a given, however, there is another map that Dan made that shows railroad potential beyond this map, here . www.flickr.com/photos/rllayman/281337059/

Plus, independently, I have suggested that a light rail line could be extended from New Carrollton to Annapolis (off the proposed purple line) providing service within Annapolis.
Posted 33 months ago. ( permalink )

priceiscorect says:

I disagree with you c4bl3fl4m3, the Metro doesn't have to be underground. It can be above ground and cost the same amount as MARC. To me, HRT offers everything commuter rail offers and more. I don't think enabling further development in the exurbs is a good idea at all. If people made the decision to live out there then screw them, they can wait in traffic. I'm not paying for them to get mass transit. They live in what was all farmland 20 years ago. If you want to live in a big energy consuming house with a massive fertilizer consuming yard than you have to be willing to pay by waiting in a shitload of traffic. What other incentive is there for people to spend money by living closer to the District in smaller homes with little or no yards?
Posted 32 months ago. ( permalink )

penguinsix says:

You might want to add another spoke as there is talk of a Southern Maryland light rail project along Route 5 / 301 to service the rapidly growing (and heavily overcrowded) Waldorf area

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/ library/grow...

www.stmarystoday.com/commuter_rail_service_to _souther.htm
Posted 32 months ago. ( permalink )

adeltoclarencedock says:

I do agree with the comment above; using the existing line to provide commuter rail to charles county would be a relatively cheap project providing a big gain. Plus, it would help reduce crowding on the Penn line, by abstracting custom from Bowie State station and picking up the peak Seabrook calls.

I'm also extremely happy to see that someone else had in mind a service to Westminster and Harrisburg. My aim would be that a DC to Harrisburg service made the journey somewhere near the three hour mark, to make the rail services sufficiently competitive with the several flights a day that operate the route.

I made this google map of the route, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on it.

maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en& msa=0&...
Posted 11 months ago. ( permalink )

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Proposed map of a Washington-Baltimore regional rail system

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bjh photography says:

mickpix, esq. says:

owizard says:

rllayman says:

Magoomba says:

c4bl3fl4m3 says:

rllayman says:

priceiscorect says:

penguinsix says:

adeltoclarencedock says:

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