West Baltimore | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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General information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | 401 North Smallwood Street [1] Baltimore, Maryland | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 39°17′36″N76°39′11″W / 39.293368°N 76.653172°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Owned by | Maryland Transit Administration | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Line(s) | Amtrak Northeast Corridor | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Platforms | 2 side platforms | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Tracks | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Connections | MTA BaltimoreLink: Blue, Orange, Pink, 26, 77, 150, 163 [2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Parking | 327 spaces [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Accessible | No [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | April 30, 1984 [3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Electrified | 1935 [4] [5] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Passengers | |||||||||||||||||||||||
2018 | 823 daily [6] 7% | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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West Baltimore station is a regional rail station located in the western part of the City of Baltimore, Maryland along the Northeast Corridor. It is served by MARC Penn Line trains. The station is positioned on an elevated grade above and between the nearby parallel West Mulberry and West Franklin Streets (U.S. Route 40) at 400 North Smallwood Street. Three large surface lots are available for commuters. The station only has staircases from street level and two low-level side platforms next to the outer tracks and is thus not accessible to people with some mobility disabilities, but MTA Maryland plans to renovate the station with accessible platforms and entrances.
The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P), owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad, opened to Baltimore in 1873. By the early 1900s, the PRR stopped at Lafayette and Calverton (also known as Gwynns Falls) west of Baltimore, serving local residential areas. [7] Because both the B&P and the Northern Central Railway approached Penn Station from the west, PRR through trains from Washington to Harrisburg had to operate in reverse from Baltimore to Washington. To correct this, the PRR planned to replace the two stops with a single intercity-oriented station located between them, along with a wye at the north end of the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel to allow trains to bypass Penn Station. [8]
The PRR opened bidding for station construction, with an estimated cost of $50,000 (equivalent to $1,300,000in 2022), in July 1916. [9] The Spanish Mission style station, constructed of red brick with a terra-cotta tile roof, was designed by PRR staff architect William Holmes Cookman. [10] The station, named Edmondson, opened on May 1, 1917. [8] Original plans called for the installation of high-level platforms and a footbridge connecting them to the station building. However, this was delayed by the nationalization of railroads during World War I, and neither the station improvements nor the wye was ultimately built. [8]
Unlike the comparable North Philadelphia station, Edmondson was not a success. It was far from the city center without a good transit connection to it, and without the wye the station did not serve Harrisburg trains. Instead of being a major intercity stop, Edmondson was mostly served by local commuter service between Washington and Baltimore. [8] Local service continued under Penn Central from 1968 to 1976, then under Conrail until 1983, and finally as the Amtrak-operated, state-funded AMDOT service (renamed the MARC Penn Line in 1984). The station was briefly closed in March 1979 after an accident destroyed the stairway to the platform. [11] Amtrak's Chesapeake , a limited-stop commuter train between Washington and Philadelphia, began stopping at Edmondson on July 29, 1979. [11] The Chesapeake was discontinued on October 30, 1983. [12]
Edmondson continued to be a stop on the state-funded commuter service. The Edmondson and Frederick Road stops were closed on April 27, 1984; they were replaced with West Baltimore station, two blocks to the south of Edmondson Avenue, on April 30. [13] The stairs and platforms were removed, but the station building remains in place as a private business (which it had been converted to even before the stop closed). [10]
In 2009, it was announced that approximately 400 parking spaces east of Pulaski Street would be added, as part of the project to remove the portion of Interstate 170 (now Route 40) that had never carried vehicular traffic. The spots were not to be permanent, but instead only available until redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood. [14] The expressway was demolished in the fall of 2010, and the spaces opened soon after.
West Baltimore station has attracted criticism for being unsafe due to crime and the poor conditions of the platforms and staircases, which are crumbling and rusted. [15] As part of the larger project to repair the Interstate 170 area, the station will be improved over a period of several years. Immediate repairs to the stairs and platforms, as well as improved shelters and lighting, were made in 2014. Ultimately, the platforms will be extended to serve more cars per train and raised for accessibility, and ramps built to surrounding streets. The Red Line light rail service, originally planned to begin construction in 2015 (before its cancellation that year) and open in 2022 (however, it would be resurrected in 2023, with construction targeted to begin in 2026 or 2027), is to run along the Route 40 corridor in the median of the highway underneath the elevated city streets with a stop at West Baltimore. Escalators and elevators will be used to transport commuters from the station to the streets above the Route 40 corridor in West Baltimore. [16]
The station is also served by seven MTA Bus routes: [2]
The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation. The MTA operates a comprehensive transit system throughout the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area. There are 80 bus lines serving the Baltimore Metropolitan Area, along with rail services that include the Light Rail, Metro Subway, and MARC Train. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 52,922,000, or about 219,300 per weekday as of the first quarter of 2023.
MARC is a commuter rail system in the Washington–Baltimore area. MARC is administered by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) and operated under contract by Alstom and Amtrak on track owned by CSX Transportation (CSXT) and Amtrak. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 2,815,900, or about 11,800 per weekday as of the first quarter of 2023, less than pre-COVID-19 pandemic weekday ridership of 40,000.
Baltimore Penn Station, formally named Baltimore Pennsylvania Station in full, is the main inter-city passenger rail hub in Baltimore, Maryland. Designed by New York City architect Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison (1872–1938), it was constructed in 1911 in the Beaux-Arts style of architecture for the Pennsylvania Railroad. It is located at 1515 N. Charles Street, about a mile and a half north of downtown and the Inner Harbor, between the Mount Vernon neighborhood to the south, and Station North to the north. Originally called Union Station because it served the Pennsylvania Railroad and Western Maryland Railway, it was renamed to match other Pennsylvania Stations in 1928.
Newark Penn Station is an intermodal passenger station in Newark, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, Newark Penn Station is served by multiple rail and bus carriers, making it the seventh busiest rail station in the United States, and the fourth busiest in the New York City metropolitan area.
BWI Rail Station is an intermodal passenger station in Linthicum, Maryland near Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI). It is served by Amtrak Northeast Corridor intercity trains, MARC Penn Line regional rail trains, and several local bus lines.
The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P) operated from Baltimore, Maryland, southwest to Washington, D.C., from 1872 to 1902. Controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it was the second railroad company to connect the nation's capital to the Northeastern States, and competed with the older Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
The Northern Central Railway (NCRY) was a Class I Railroad connecting Baltimore, Maryland with Sunbury, Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna River. Completed in 1858, the line came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1861, when the PRR acquired a controlling interest in the Northern Central's stock to compete with the rival Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O).
Baltimore Light RailLink is a light rail system serving Baltimore, Maryland, United States, and its northern and southern suburbs. It is operated by the Maryland Transit Administration. In downtown Baltimore, it uses city streets. Outside the central portions of the city, the line is built on private rights-of-way, mostly from the defunct Northern Central Railway, Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad and Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway. The system had a ridership of 3,262,100, or about 9,200 per weekday, as of the first quarter of 2023.
The Penn Line is a MARC passenger rail service operating between Union Station in Washington, D.C., and Perryville, Maryland, along the far southern leg of the Northeast Corridor; most trains terminate at Baltimore's Penn Station. It is MARC's only electrified line. With trains operating at speeds of up to 125 miles per hour (201 km/h), it is the fastest commuter rail line in the United States. The service is operated by Amtrak under contract to the Maryland Transit Administration. MARC sets the schedules, owns most of the stations, and controls fares, while Amtrak owns and maintains the right-of-way, supplies employees to operate trains, and maintains the rolling stock. It is the busiest of MARC's three lines, with twice as many trains and ridership as the Brunswick and Camden lines combined.
The Pope's Creek Subdivision is a CSX Transportation railroad line in Maryland, running from Bowie to Morgantown where the Morgantown Generating Station is located and the Chalk Point Generating Station.
Camden Station, now also referred to as Camden Street Station, Camden Yards, and formally as the Transportation Center at Camden Yards, is a train station at the intersection of South Howard and West Camden Streets in Baltimore, Maryland, adjacent to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, behind the B&O Warehouse. It is served by MARC commuter rail service and local Light Rail trains.
Perryville is a passenger rail station in Perryville, Maryland, served by MARC's Penn Line. The station is located on the southern part of the Northeast Corridor, between the Newark, DE and Aberdeen, MD stations. Although Amtrak does not regularly serve the station, a single Amtrak train—Northeast RegionalNo. 111—stops at Perryville to board MARC ticket holders traveling south. The station is also the northernmost in the MARC system and the terminus for the Penn Line.
Edgewood station is a passenger rail station on the Northeast Corridor serving the unincorporated community of Edgewood, Maryland. It is located between the Aberdeen and Martin State Airport stations. MARC Penn Line trains regularly service the station, along with just one Amtrak train — southbound Northeast Regional train No. 111 — which stops to receive MARC passengers.
Martin State Airport station, also referred to as Martin Airport, is a passenger rail station on the Northeast Corridor serving Martin State Airport in the unincorporated community of Middle River, Maryland. It is located in between the Aberdeen and Baltimore stations. It is served by the MARC Penn Line; Amtrak trains pass through the station without stopping.
Halethorpe station is a passenger rail station located in the unincorporated community of Halethorpe, Maryland on the Northeast Corridor. MARC Penn Line trains serve the station; Amtrak trains pass through but do not stop.
Odenton station is a passenger rail station on the MARC Penn Line. It is located along the Northeast Corridor; Amtrak trains operating along the corridor pass through but do not stop. Both platforms at the station are high-level and are among the longest in the MARC system.
Bowie State station is a regional rail station on the Northeast Corridor, located adjacent to the campus of Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland. It is served by MARC Penn Line commuter rail trains. The station is located on a three-track section of the Northeast Corridor, with two side platforms next to the outer tracks.
Monocacy is a passenger rail station on the MARC Brunswick Line between Washington, D.C. and Frederick, Maryland. This station is one of two stations on the Frederick extension. It is also the only station on the Brunswick Line other than Union Station to have a high-level platform. There is also a low level platform at the north end of the station.
The Bowie Railroad Buildings comprise three small frame structures at the former Bowie train station, located at the junction of what is now the Northeast Corridor and the Pope's Creek Subdivision in the town center of Bowie, Maryland. The complex includes a single-story freight depot, a two-story interlocking tower, and an open passenger shed. The station was served by passenger trains from 1872 until 1989, when it was replaced by Bowie State station nearby. The buildings were restored in 1992 as the Bowie Railroad Museum and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
Lanham station was a regional rail station on the Northeast Corridor, located just outside the Capital Beltway off Route 450 in Lanham, Maryland. It was served by the predecessor of today's MARC Penn Line, until August 1982.