Maryland looks at connecting MARC toward Philadelphia and within Baltimore
Looks like our governor has on his desk a bill to require the Maryland transit Administration to "enter good-faith negotiations" about two possible expansions of MARC service: Through-running trains on VRE to Alexandria and extending the Penn Line north to Newark, Del. to meet up with SEPTA trains, thus allowing impecunious travelers with a little extra time on their hands a way to travel by rail between Baltimore and Philadelphia. Currently, you have to ride MARC to Perryville, then take a Cecil County bus to Newark to get the SEPTA train. I was planning on trying this jaunt this spring before Covid-19 put the kibosh on that sort of thing.
Another thing the bill apparently does is authorize MDOT to conduct a study about connecting the Penn Lines and Camden lines, somewhere on the Baltimore end. (The two lines, are, of course, connected at Washington). This might allow some interesting flexibility in configuring regional rail service in the Baltimore area.
Of course, there's no money appropriated in the bill, nor has the governor, who has been slashing state spending to deal with Covid-19, signed this bill yet, so it may be quite a while before this actually happens. But, still, it shows an interest in expanding our local rail service.
Looks like our governor has on his desk a bill to require the Maryland transit Administration to "enter good-faith negotiations" about two possible expansions of MARC service: Through-running trains on VRE to Alexandria and extending the Penn Line north to Newark, Del. to meet up with SEPTA trains, thus allowing impecunious travelers with a little extra time on their hands a way to travel by rail between Baltimore and Philadelphia. Currently, you have to ride MARC to Perryville, then take a Cecil County bus to Newark to get the SEPTA train. I was planning on trying this jaunt this spring before Covid-19 put the kibosh on that sort of thing.
Another thing the bill apparently does is authorize MDOT to conduct a study about connecting the Penn Lines and Camden lines, somewhere on the Baltimore end. (The two lines, are, of course, connected at Washington). This might allow some interesting flexibility in configuring regional rail service in the Baltimore area.
Of course, there's no money appropriated in the bill, nor has the governor, who has been slashing state spending to deal with Covid-19, signed this bill yet, so it may be quite a while before this actually happens. But, still, it shows an interest in expanding our local rail service.
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