Part 3: Metro and Light Rail: New Rail Systems

Metro:

Not long after the streetcars starting disappearing, people were starting to plan new modes of transportation. According to the MTA website, In 1963 the General Assembly formed the Metropolitan Transit Authority, or MTA, and charged them with overseeing the public transit for the Baltimore metro area. Though this may not have been the beginning of the rail systems we know today, it helped foster the plans that would eventually come into fruition. Many people involved with the MTA wanted to see a rail transit system, but needed to come up with a better, faster form that could compete with the speed and ease of buses.

Serious planning for a regional rail system started in 1968 according to the research of Scott Kozel, with a study that was looking at the enginerring and economic feasability of a new rapid rail system. The proposed answer was what they called Baltimore Regional Rapid Transit System, or BRRTS, which sounds very similar to what the Bay Area of San Francisco has name BART. The layout of the lines was similar to the DC metro system that was in planning around the same time as well.

Above is a map of the original planned routes for the BRRTS. This map was released in the summer of 1968. Photo courtesy of Scott Kozel of Roads to the Future.

Though many people thought this was the solution to the mass transit problem, lack of funding cut the budget and the project would have to be ammended. In 1971 the plan was eventually refined to a much smaller system that contained only two lines, which were similar to the Metro and Light Rail lines we currently have. Hopeful that this would only be the beginning, it was renamed Phase 1.

Later that year, the MDOT Mass Transit Administration officially recommended the Phase 1 Plan. However, the project was stopped once again according to Kozel, this time due to local opposition from residents of Anne Arundel County. Many suburbanites were concerned that public transportation from the city to the suburbs would bring crime with it.

When the plan was finally put into motion, it only included the northern line to the Reisterstown area. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in 1974, but according to Urban Rail real construction did not begin until 1976. The first section, from Downtown to Reisterstown Plaza was finally opened in 1983. This was the first time in twenty years that a public transportation option other than buses was offered in Baltimore. In 1987 the line was extended further north to serve more Baltimore County residents. In 1994 the line was extended on the other end to reach the Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore.

Pictured above is a Baltimore Metro car in underground station for Lexington Market. Photo courtesy of Bob Barrows for UrbanRail.Net

Light Raill:

Once the Metro System was underway, other groups started looking at more transportation options to serve their communities better. In 1980, the North Corridor Transit Study began looking for commuter options for residents of the Timonium and Hunt Valley areas. After looking at rail and bus options, the plan was set for a light rail line running from the Timonium area to Downtown Baltimore.

According to the Maryland MTA Light Rail profile, the Senate approved funding for the Light Rail on March 6, 1989. Attitudes must have changed over the course of a few years, because that same year Anne Arundel County agreed to let construction begin. The Light Rail was slated to begin construction from Timonium through Dowtown, to Glen Burnie in Anne Arundel County. This first 22.5 mile section of the line was opened in 1992.

Above is a picture of the Light Rail passing through Downtown Baltimore. Photo Courtesy of UrbanRail.Net

Plans for three extentions were in the works, and construction was underway by 1995. In September of 1997 the first extention from Timonium to Hunt Valley was finished. The other two additions were extentions into Penn Station and BWI Airport, making it much easier to connect with other trains or Planes.

The Metro and Light Rail have been serving the Baltimore Metro area for over a decade now, but it is the opinion of many that we still do not have the transit system we need.