AmeriStarRail Proposes New Downtown Baltimore Tunnel and Station for Amtrak, MARC and Baltimore Crosstown Metro Trains

In a letter sent to Maryland Department of Transportation MTA, AmeriStarRail has proposed an innovative alternative to Amtrak’s proposed B&P Tunnel Replacement project.

The proposal, known as the Baltimore Grand Slam, will create a winning solution for Baltimore’s future with four high capacity, high-speed railroad tunnels through downtown Baltimore for passenger trains only. The Baltimore Grand Slam will replace Amtrak’s current Penn Station and the slow, circuitous 19th Century B&P Tunnels and Union Tunnels with the Baltimore Crosstown Rail (BCR) Tunnel. This will include four 125+ MPH tunnels for intercity, commuter rail and metro trains and a new Amtrak/MARC/Metro central station – the Frederick Douglass Freedom Station – within walking distance of downtown destinations and transit connections.

A new East-West urban rail transit line, the Baltimore Crosstown Metro (BXM) will also use the BCR Tunnel and serve 12 metro stations.

“The Baltimore Crosstown Rail Tunnel will bring the Northeast Corridor into downtown Baltimore and the 21st Century. It is a Baltimore Bold solution that will dramatically improve Amtrak and MARC trains service to the city and create an east – west transit line serving 6 of the 10 largest employers including the four largest in Baltimore,” said Scott Spencer, Chief Operating Officer for AmeriStarRail.

Spencer added, “In 1985, the most expensive interstate highway project at the time built the deepest tunnels in the interstate highway system for I-95 under the Baltimore Harbor to bring interstate access to downtown. The Baltimore Crosstown Rail Tunnel will finally provide the Northeast Corridor with the same competitive access to downtown destinations and generate more jobs and economic development for the entire city.”

AmeriStarRail is proposing that private infrastructure financing and revenue from transit related development projects at each station be included as part of a public-private partnership to build the 10 mile long tunnels and 12 stations of the Baltimore Crosstown Rail Tunnel by 2030 to celebrate the bicentennial of America’s first railroad – The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

About AmeriStarRail

AmeriStarRail (www.AmeriStarRail.com) is a private sector company planning the most dramatic transformation of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor service since America’s first high speed trains, The Metroliners, in 1969.

AmeriStarRail is planning to privately finance and operate a new standardized fleet of 160 MPH trainsets offering triple-class service of Coach, Business and First Class on every Amtrak Northeast Corridor train. This will finally provide Transportation Equity on all Amtrak trains so that senior citizens, families, students, disabled and low-income passengers can have affordable and equitable access to High Speed Rail service in America for the first time in our history.

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