Metro Subway

Metro Subway
	; Metro Subway train entering the Reisterstown Plaza station, bound for Owings Mills
Info
Type	Rapid transit
Status	Operational
Locale	Baltimore, Maryland
Termini	Owings Mills (west); Johns Hopkins Hospital (east)
Stations	14
Daily ridership	57,600 (daily)
Operation
Opened	1983
Owner	Maryland Transit Administration
Operator(s)	Maryland Transit Administration
Character	Underground and surface
Rolling stock	100 Budd cars
Technical
Line length	15.2 mi (24.5 km)
No. of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in) (standard gauge)
Electrification	Third rail
Operating speed	70 mph (110 km/h)
Route map
	Parking available at station

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For metro and subway systems in general, see rapid transit.

The Metro Subway^[1] or Baltimore Metro is a single-line rapid transit system serving the greater Baltimore, Maryland, United States area and operated by the Maryland Transit Administration. Despite its name, less than half of the line is underground; most of the line outside of the central city is elevated or at grade.

[edit] History

The origins of the Metro Subway lie in a transit plan drawn up for the Baltimore area written in 1966 that envisioned six rapid transit lines radiating out from the city center. By the time this vision began to be translated into reality, construction costs in the United States had risen to the point of making transit construction prohibitively expensive, and there was less federal money available for transit projects than had been in the past and the plan was trimmed down to a single line. The southern half of the remaining line was never built because of crime concerns from residents of Anne Arundel County. When the Metro Subway finally opened in 1983, only this "Northwest" line of the 1966 plan had come to fruition. Service was provided between Charles Center in downtown Baltimore and Reisterstown Plaza in the northwest section of the city. (A decade later, much of the "North" and "South" lines of that plan would come into existence as the Baltimore Light Rail.)

In 1987, an extension from Reisterstown Road Plaza to Owings Mills in Baltimore County was added, much of it running in the median of I-795. In 1994, a further extension from Charles Center to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore City was also opened. This last extension was an extremely truncated version of the 1966 plan's "Northeast" line.

The current system is 15.2 miles (24.5 km) long, including 6.2 miles (10.0 km) underground, 2.2 miles (3.5 km) elevated, and 6.8 miles (10.9 km) at grade.

Once the project was completed in 1994, the total cost for the Metro Subway was $1.392 billion.

[edit] Operation

[edit] Route

Metro Subway system map

The Metro Subway's route consists of a single line in a shape that can be described as an extremely lopsided "U". Trains head due south underground from Johns Hopkins Hospital, turn west as they pass under Baltimore's central business district, then north and ultimately northwest towards Owings Mills. The route leaves its tunnel northwest of Mondawmin station, entering an elevated structure that parallels Wabash Avenue and the Western Maryland Railroad. The route eventually leaves the older railroad right of way to enter the I-795 median, which it occupies all the way to the system's Owings Mills terminus.

Trains heading for Johns Hopkins Hospital are referred to as eastbound trains, while trains heading towards Owings Mills are said to be going west.

[edit] Schedules

A trip from one end of the line to the other takes about half an hour. Headways range from 8 minutes during daytime peak to 11 minutes late at night, 15 minutes all day on weekends. Trains run from 5 a.m. to midnight on weekdays, 6 a.m. to midnight on weekends.

[edit] Fares

See: Current MTA Fares

[edit] Connecting services

Most Metro Subway stations are served by a number of MTA bus routes. In 1984, just months after Metro first started operating, many feeder routes were created that were given the designation of a letter (M, P, or R) followed by a number. In 1987, many of these routes were renamed, and only the prefix "M" was used. Over the years, the number of M-lines has shrunken, as many of the routes were consolidated. In 2008, routes that were designated with the letter "M" have been renamed to plain two-digit designations. Finally, on August 30, 2009, the last four were either renumbered or eliminated, with no routing changes made; they continue to act as feeder routes to the Metro Subway.

There is no direct connection to the Light Rail or to MARC — a fact that may strike the passenger as a distinct oversight in planning. The Metro Subway's Lexington Market Station is a 200-yard (180 m) walk from the Light Rail stop of the same name, and the State Center Station is about 1.5 blocks away from Light Rail's Cultural Center. In addition, MARC Penn Station is about a one-half mile walk from State Center, and MARC Camden Station is about five blocks from Lexington Market.

[edit] Stations and connecting services

Exterior of the Charles Center Metro Subway station in downtown Baltimore

Station	Location	Parking	Connecting buses	Buses within close walk
Owings Mills	Painters Mill Road near I-795 underpass	3500	56, 59
Old Court	Old Court Road near Greenwood Road	625	77, 53
Milford Mill	Roman Frasier Lane and Bedford Road (near Milford Mill Road)	1300	54
Reisterstown Plaza	Wabash Avenue and Patterson Avenue	700	27, 58, 59, 60	53
Rogers Avenue	Rogers Avenue at Wabash Avenue	900	27, 33, 44, 51, 57, 91	53
West Coldspring	Wabash Avenue at Coldspring Lane	300	33, 51, 97	53
Mondawmin	Liberty Heights Avenue at Reisterstown Road	175	1, 5, 7, 16, 21, 22, 51, 52, 53, 54, 97
Penn-North	Pennsylvania Avenue at North Avenue	none	7, 13, 21, 54, 91	5
Upton/Avenue Market	Pennsylvania Avenue at Laurens Street	none	7	5
State Center/Cultural Center	Preston Street at Eutaw Street	none	19, 21, 27, and 91, Baltimore Light Rail's Cultural Center Station
Lexington Market	Eutaw Street at Saratoga Street (north entrance), Lexington Street (south entrance)	none	1, 5, 15, 19, 23, 27, and 91, Light Rail	7, 8, 10, 20, 23, 35, 36, 40, 48
Charles Center	Baltimore Street at Charles Street (west entrance), Calvert Street (east entrance)	none	1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 20, 23, 35, 36, 40, 48, 61, 64, and 91	Baltimore Light Rail's Baltimore Street Station at Baltimore Street and Howard Street
Shot Tower/Market Place	Baltimore Street at President Street	none	7, 10, 11, 20, 23, 40
Johns Hopkins Hospital	North Broadway and Monument Street	none	5, 6, 13, and 35	15, 21

[edit] Rolling stock

Budd built Universal Transit Vehicle as seen on the Baltimore Metro departing the Millford Mill Station.

The Baltimore Metro's cars were manufactured by the Budd/TransitAmerica Red Lion plant in Northeast Philadelphia. Most were delivered in 1983, with a supplementary set of essentially identical cars being purchased in 1986 for the line expansion. The cars were marketed by Budd as the Universal Transit Vehicle and are identical to those used on the Miami Metrorail, as the two systems were built at the same time, and the two agencies were able to save money by sharing a single order. These cars were among the last railcars to be built by Budd before the firm shut down. Trains draw power from an electric third rail. The cars are 72 feet (22 m) long and 9.5 feet (2.9 m) wide and have a top speed of over 70 mph (110 km/h). Cars are semi-permanently attached in married pairs, and 2-, 4-, and 6-car trains are all seen on the line. Each car can hold up to 166 passengers (76 seated, 90 standing).

The Baltimore Metro fleet has a significant overhaul between 2002 and 2005. Car seats were replaced and the floors reupholstered. External destination rollsigns were replaced with LED displays, and internal systems that displayed and announced train destinations and upcoming stops were installed.

The MTA currently owns 100 Metro Subway cars; approximately 54 are in use during peak weekday travel times.

[edit] Future

While the current Metro Subway is an important part of Baltimore's transit picture, the prohibitive cost of building new rapid transit lines — particularly the sort of underground lines that would be necessary in a densely populated area — have clouded prospects for future expansion. As of 2005, the state of Maryland is considering a new transit line, dubbed the Green Line, that would begin at the Metro Subway's Johns Hopkins Hospital terminus and run to the northeast corner of the city. If this line were implemented as an extension of the existing line, the entire Metro Subway might ultimately be rebranded as the Green Line (it is already colored green on MTA maps).

[edit] See also

List of rapid transit systems

[edit] References

^ Maryland Transit Administration, Metro Subway: General Information, accessed April 10, 2007

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Baltimore Metro

[0] Maryland Transit Administration, Metro Subway: General Information, accessed April 10, 2007

[1]

Metro Subway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Operation

[edit] Route

[edit] Schedules

[edit] Fares

[edit] Connecting services

[edit] Stations and connecting services

[edit] Rolling stock

[edit] Future

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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