I remember seeing an old ARS map in the lower level of Metro headquarters, showing possible expansion of the Green Line up to Laurel. I'd imagine they could put stops in Beltsville and maybe Muirkirk. Transit to Baltimore would be great--even regular bus service would be better than what exists now, which is nothing on the weekend but the Greyhound bus.

Interestingly though Metro anticipated possible expansion to Laurel on the Green Line and to Bowie on the Orange Line, they did not anticipate the one expansion that has happened so far: the Blue Line to Largo. I remember reading that the extension required extra construction steps because Addison Road was not built to accommodate future expansion.

Actually now that I think about it, if I wanted to go to Baltimore on the weekend, I really could take Green to Greenbelt, get the B30 BWI bus, and then get the Baltimore light rail or something...I will remember that...

That BWI extension idea sounds BART-esque. In my region, the San Francisco Bay Area, our own "Metro" was built to run 25-30 miles out of Downtown Oakland, where it's centered, despite that BART/Metro-type rail would better suit short trips within a city than long trips in suburbia because of its extremely expensive "metro" cars and track. This was done even though a more traditional railroad system could realistically have reached most of our suburbs for far less funds. So then, since you already have a traditional railroad system running to lots of your suburbs, I wonder why Washington would need a roughly 20-mile Metro connection to BWI if MARC already goes there (and connects to Metro in multiple places on two lines). I see that MARC makes just a handful of runs on weekdays only, but, if Metro could run more frequently, why couldn't MARC? If it's because MARC runs on busy private tracks (does it? I don't know), why wouldn't building new, publicly-owned tracks be more cost-effective than a Metro extension? ...Just a curious out-of-towner wondering.

Hi Michael--

Yeah, MARC runs on CSX tracks. At least one of the lines to Baltimore (Camden, I think) is on the original B&O line. CSX probably would not like the idea of more frequent service. I live next to a CSX/MARC line, and CSX runs a lot of freights when the MARC trains aren't running.

And not to forget the very low ridership numbers of BART's 2-year-old, 8-mile SFO airport extension. You'd think it would be more attractive, given the trains run to so many places in the region (including the downtowns of San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley) with at most one BART transfer, and given the disproportionately low fares to/from the outer suburbs' stations. But it hasn't taken off yet. Maybe this means nothing in your region, since you don't have a big bay in the way, but, as congested as our roads are, as busy as SFO is, and as simple as a BART trip to the airport might be, the airport line is just not a big draw and has put the transit district that built it in partnership with BART into a very bad deficit.

Aren't they planning on building a Maglev to BWI and on to Baltimore? Who would ride metro when you could go from Union Station to BWI in 15 minutes?

Most of the MARC trains to Baltimore run on the Penn line, which is owned by Amtrak. The Camden line doesn't have nearly as many trains.

Anyway, something needs to be done up there, but if you built another track, added some capacity at Union Station and improved the BWI connection you could improve MARC to Metro-like service for probably a lot less money, and the service would be faster. The Penn line is already electrified, so the hardest part is already taken care of.

Given unlimited resources I would say go ahead and build Metro, but money is not unlimited, so building Metro where improving MARC would do the job would mean some other line somewhere that might otherwise get funded loses out.

i think the dc subway shuld be extended to baltimore

David,

There's been talk about building the Maglev for a while, but the current administration seems to have let the federal funding for the project lapse.

More importantly, though, would be cost. Maglev tickets are going to be very expensive -- I've seen estimates of $40 one way between DC & Baltimore. The Maglev won't be good for local commuters and is really being touted as a "started" line for an Amtrak replacement (or corollary) line to go up the easy coast.

WMATA tickets to BWI would, likely, be $4-$5, a lot more reasonable fare, especially for people flying the low cost carriers flocking to BWI.

With a $4 Billion pricetag, Maglev just isn't worth the cost. They projected less than 30,000 daily riders.

Would it be super cool? Sure.
Would I ride it every time I went to Baltimore? Yeah, probably.
Would that same money serve a lot more people and take a lot more cars off the street if it were invested elsewhere? No question about it.

Well, shucks. Baltimore just got finished re-designating all of its lines "Green," "Yellow," And "Blue," even though no one gives a damn. Notwithstanding, the "Baltimore Region Transit Plan" homepage even displays a hypothetical 'improved service on the Camden line' route terminating at question-mark. Could DC spend billions of dollars to send a green line train all that way? Um- yes and no. The overwhelming cost of these projects obviously hasn't stopped the city before. My main irritation is the lack of planning consideration in BOTH cities in relation to one another. How about we just call it the "Orange Line" while in Baltimore and the "Green Line" while in DC, eh? Better yet, they could just flip the sign from "Green" to "Orange" at Camden Yards, and -really- confuse the bejeezus out of everybody.

I'd rather just see service on the Brunswick line run both ways all day, so that I don't have to goof around Harper's Ferry all night if I want to take it for a cruise. If most every transit system in the US is practically bankrupt, depending on subsidies, and in debt up to its eyeballs, what's the excuse for assanine commuter rail schedules like this, where NJ Transit functions all day, every day, practically?

The excuse is twofold.

1. CSX owns the tracks on the Brunswick line and runs lots of freight trains on them. MARC only gets as many slots as CSX can spare.

2. Union Station is a bit of a bottleneck.

Not that those problems are unsolvable. In fact they're easier and cheaper than building new Metro lines. But they are problems.

If the right of way exists to build a metro extension, then could not that same way be used to put in a parallel and passenger dedicated track for traditional rail for a lot less than metro construction? There is already planning talk about expanding the CSX tracks in this area to three tracks.

The comprehensive regional rail plan for Baltimore includes a 'yellow; line to extend from Columbia, MD to BWI, through Baltimore's near-east side and on up to Towson. I know I know, I am a dreamer - a wreckless idealist who is setting himself up for mass-transit heart break in Charm City - but I had an idea.

see:
http://www.baltimoreregiontransitplan.com/images/overview/brrsp/brreportfinal.pdf

This line would mean that Baltimore's transit system would meet washington's in several places. If the Green Line expansion delivers as hoped, we would see transfer points at Laurel/Ft Meade, Arundel Mills and Columbia! That is, if Gov. Bob ever has the guts to throw down on decent transit .

So why not build both the Metro Green Line expansion and the Yellow line concurrently? Let's call it the Tri-City Connector! or the pink line or or anything!(Baltimore-Columbia-DC) Sure, it would be expensive but it would serve more people than any other planned metro expansion or for that matter, any line on the Baltimore plan. I know, I know - so much politics involved but with Ft Mead's good luck with the defense department, Columbia's planned "urbanization" and the general merging of Baltimore and Washington's Howard/AA/PG County Suburbs.

Argh we can dream can we not?

(http://www.baltimoreregiontransitplan.com/images/overview/brrsp/brreportfinal.pdf)