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Baltimore: Howard Street Tunnel expansion back on as CSX returns to table with $91 million....
Howard Street Tunnel expansion back on as CSX returns to table with $91 million commitment
By Christina Tkacik
The Baltimore Sun
December 13, 2018, 7:45 PM
The Howard Street Tunnel expansion appears to be back on, after the railroad CSX Transportation reversed a decision to pull out of the project and committed $91 million toward it, Maryland officials said Thursday.
“We are pleased that CSX has reversed its position on the Howard Street Tunnel project and is once again supportive and willing to participate,” Sen. Ben Cardin said in a statement. ... The CSX commitment was secured during a meeting Thursday between CSX CEO Jim Foote and the Maryland congressional delegation.
The project, considered crucial to the future prospects of the port of Baltimore, would expand the more than century-old tunnel under Howard Street through downtown Baltimore to accommodate trains with shipping containers stacked two-high.
Officials say that the ability to double stack the truck-sized boxes on trains, which is the most efficient way to transport containers on land, will generate 34,000 jobs and $2.9 billion for the region. The port has seen a surge of cargo shipped via container since the opening of the expanded Panama Canal in 2016. ... But the port’s growth is constrained by the Howard Street Tunnel, which the containers must transit by train to reach points west and south on CSX’s multi-state rail network.
....
FRA picks plan to replace problematic Amtrak tunnel beneath Baltimore after years-long review
The disaster generated interest in rerouting the CSX line or widening the existing tunnel, but the railroad and the state and federal governments were deterred by the enormous cost of the project. Some of the proposed solutions, such as a new tunnel to the west of the existing one, could have run into the billions of dollars — as a similar proposal to replace Amtrak’s Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel has. The price tag for that project is $4.52 billion.
The state and CSX announced plans in 2016 to keep the existing Howard Street Tunnel while lowering its floor and raising its ceiling to improve clearances and allow double-stacking.
ctkacik@baltsun.com
https://twitter.com/xtinatkacik
Copyright © 2018, The Baltimore Sun, a Baltimore Sun Media Group publication
By Christina Tkacik
The Baltimore Sun
December 13, 2018, 7:45 PM
The Howard Street Tunnel expansion appears to be back on, after the railroad CSX Transportation reversed a decision to pull out of the project and committed $91 million toward it, Maryland officials said Thursday.
“We are pleased that CSX has reversed its position on the Howard Street Tunnel project and is once again supportive and willing to participate,” Sen. Ben Cardin said in a statement. ... The CSX commitment was secured during a meeting Thursday between CSX CEO Jim Foote and the Maryland congressional delegation.
The project, considered crucial to the future prospects of the port of Baltimore, would expand the more than century-old tunnel under Howard Street through downtown Baltimore to accommodate trains with shipping containers stacked two-high.
Officials say that the ability to double stack the truck-sized boxes on trains, which is the most efficient way to transport containers on land, will generate 34,000 jobs and $2.9 billion for the region. The port has seen a surge of cargo shipped via container since the opening of the expanded Panama Canal in 2016. ... But the port’s growth is constrained by the Howard Street Tunnel, which the containers must transit by train to reach points west and south on CSX’s multi-state rail network.
....
FRA picks plan to replace problematic Amtrak tunnel beneath Baltimore after years-long review
The disaster generated interest in rerouting the CSX line or widening the existing tunnel, but the railroad and the state and federal governments were deterred by the enormous cost of the project. Some of the proposed solutions, such as a new tunnel to the west of the existing one, could have run into the billions of dollars — as a similar proposal to replace Amtrak’s Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel has. The price tag for that project is $4.52 billion.
The state and CSX announced plans in 2016 to keep the existing Howard Street Tunnel while lowering its floor and raising its ceiling to improve clearances and allow double-stacking.
ctkacik@baltsun.com
https://twitter.com/xtinatkacik
Copyright © 2018, The Baltimore Sun, a Baltimore Sun Media Group publication