Baltimore-to-York light rail under review

Baltimore-to-York light rail under review
By BRENT BURKEY
For The Evening Sun
Article Launched: 04/10/2007 10:52:37 AM EDT

York City Council Vice President Joe Musso said he plans to ask the council in May to pass a resolution in support of light rail from Baltimore to York.

The prospects are good, he said.

A rail line already runs north from New Freedom along the York County Rail Trail. The land around the line is owned by York County because of the rail trail.

And stations for light rail lines in Maryland amount to concrete slabs and small shelters similar to bus stops.

"We need to focus on getting this to York," Musso said. "For the most part, the rails are there."

Also, for the most part, the mood was positive at the first meeting in recent years to promote the far-north stop of the Maryland Transportation Authority's light rail becoming York instead of Hunt Valley, Md.

About 15 people attended.

However, the group that included the city's economic-development team, candidates for and members of the city council and a candidate for York County Commissioner, made a list of the initial problems to overcome.

Matt Jackson, city economic-development director, said that, in order for the light rail to continue north from Hunt Valley, it would have to come through the Kosher foods section of the new Wegman's grocery store nearby.

"That's a concern," Jackson said.

He also said the idea might overlap with public-transportation funding allotted to projects in the Harrisburg area.

City council candidate Genevieve Ray said she worked on transportation projects in Ohio and worried the size of the tracks might not be right for light rail.

Some of the biggest concerns came from Jenna A. Reedy, business-development manager with Rabbittransit.

Many at the meeting Monday said that, in an ideal world, light rail would provide north-to-south transportation and Rabbittransit buses would provide transportation east-to-west from the light rail stations.

This is a great idea, minus the kosher food part.

But I have to ask, this seems better suited for MARC than light rail. We all know how I feel about bathrooms on board trains.

gprimr1 wrote:But I have to ask, this seems better suited for MARC than light rail. We all know how I feel about bathrooms on board trains.

Realistically, while you might prefer MARC run through the area, two facts: (1) Historically (even during the MA and PA days), there never was that much freight to warrant future rebuilding of regular heavyweight track along the old MA and PA ROW, at least from a contemporary economic point of view (everything freight goes in and out by truck nowadays), and (2) MARC will not want to invest/spend the money to relay heavyweight track through this area for its locomotives and cars. And the area is hilly enough such that some bridges will have to be rebuilt. Light rail is a more feasible and economically realistic solution. However this is done, it will certainly be more expensive in contemporary economics than the price it would cost nowadays if the BWI to Hunt Valley line were built today.

I think the article is referring to the former PRR's Northern Central route, not the Ma&Pa. Both ran between Baltimore and York, but the article discusses the ex-PRR line that parallels the interstate.

If to York...........then why not all the way to Harrisburg?

Given the speed and frequent stops of the typical light rail system, York would be a very time-consuming trip that few riders would find competitive with the rubber-and-asphalt option.

It has to be faster than the conventional light rail though. What is the maximum speed limit for a light weight vehicle? Could we see 65-80mph north of Hunt Valley? If we could, then I'm hopeful for this. Google Maps makes it a 40 minute commute between Hunt Valley and York PA. We have to be competitive with this.

I'm afraid it's a bit too long to be built with the same mentality they use for inner city traffic. It has to be appealing to suburban people, which means speed will count for 80% of it. Comfort will count for the second. I don't think they could use the same LRV's they use now, they would need ones specially designed for this longer trip.

Since they are LRV's, they probally will not be able to use Amtrak Junction and go onto the NEC, but they could still do an across the platform transfer by upgrading the platform closest to the light rail.

Back in the day.....we used to call them "interurbans" and many ran up to 90 mph in rural areas. 1907 technology.

That would be great. My concern, growing up in a more suburban ruel area, is that the same strategy used to provide transit in a city won't work, and like I said, it would be a shame to build it and mess up.

I would go for a travel time around the driving time.

I'm not sure I see how this is supposed to work. The Northern Central ROW north of Hunt Valley is an extremely popular hiking-biking-horsebackriding trail, and I have no idea where they think they'll fit a light rail line and still allow a safe enough and wide enough ROW for the people. (On weekends walking the trail is much like being in the middle of a cattle drive.)

And even if it were practical, there's virtually no intermediate traffic. The NC doesn't go through anything in Maryland, and aside from New Freedom and Glen Rock in PA,nothing much there.

The only really practical route would be a combination of CSXT (ex-WM "Dutch Line") and whatever they're now calling Yorkrail, both single-track lines with freight action. I doubt that either railroad would be happy about that.

The Northern Central Branch diverges from the light rail line about a mile south of the end of the light rail line in Hunt Valley. The ROW, as far as I know, is totally unobstructed (aside from the trail that is) all the way to York.

Given that the extreme north end of the light rail includes many sharp curves, significant single track, and a few grade crossings, I would doubt that the extension would simply be added on to the end of the light rail, but rather would run via the historic right of way (though this would require crossing a very busy Route 45 / York Rd.

Of course, as is noted in other forums, some party keeps attempting to claim the Northern Central ROW for freight operations. This appears a little disingenuous though, so it shouldn't be much of an obstacle.

Considering NJ Transit is planning on a two hour (heavy rail), 72 mile run from Delaware Water Gap to Hoboken, I can't imagine what the schedule would be for a light rail line running a comparable distance. If they keep the number of stations to a minimum, it could work. Since there is little population north of Hunt Valley and south of York, there wouldn't be much of a need anyway. Maybe a park and ride where the ROW passes beneath 83, I suppose.

The Northern Central Branch diverges from the light rail line about a mile south of the end of the light rail line in Hunt Valley. The ROW, as far as I know, is totally unobstructed (aside from the trail that is) all the way to York.

Given that the extreme north end of the light rail includes many sharp curves, significant single track, and a few grade crossings, I would doubt that the extension would simply be added on to the end of the light rail, but rather would run via the historic right of way (though this would require crossing a very busy Route 45 / York Rd.

Of course, as is noted in other forums, some party keeps attempting to claim the Northern Central ROW for freight operations. This appears a little disingenuous though, so it shouldn't be much of an obstacle.

Considering NJ Transit is planning on a two hour (heavy rail), 72 mile run from Delaware Water Gap to Hoboken, I can't imagine what the schedule would be for a light rail line running a comparable distance. If they keep the number of stations to a minimum, it could work. Since there is little population north of Hunt Valley and south of York, there wouldn't be much of a need anyway. Maybe a park and ride where the ROW passes beneath 83, I suppose.

Here is the website for the group interested in starting freight operations on the line:

www.codoruscreekrailway.com

Whether any of its plans ever become reality is another matter.

We need more rail lines returned to service and cutting down on trucks, not more rail trails.

Since there's not that much between Hunt Valley and York, what volume of expected ridership from York would justify the cost/s of the extension?