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[CNJRoss]

RT&S, 3/5/19:

 

CSX, Maryland seek fed funds to expand Baltimore tunnel

 

The Howard Street Tunnel can be seen in this October 2016 photo taken during a tour.

Office of Governor Larry Hogan/Anthony DePanise

 

CSX and the state of Maryland are asking for federal money to expand the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore to fit double-stack trains.

 

The project, long backed by the city of Baltimore, calls for increasing the height of the tunnel and 22 bridges between the city and Philadelphia. Such an extensive plan would prove a boon to contractors and suppliers with experience in railroad tunnel and bridge work.

 

“Reconstructing the Howard Street Tunnel will create thousands of jobs, open up new trade lanes for the Port, and improve overall freight rail service across our nation,” Marylad Gov. Larry Hogan said in a written statement.

 

CSX and Maryland put the cost of the project at $466 million. That’s a dramatic drop from the billions estimated previously. CSX has agreed to contribute $91 million to the project. Maryland will kick in $147 million. The railroad and state are asking federal officials to make up the $228 million difference.

 

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[CNJRoss]

RT&S, 7/23/19
 

CSX joins Maryland in Howard Street Tunnel reconstruction

 

Even tunnels want to be taller.

 

 

The 121-year-old Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore needs to be taller. Today the tunnel cannot handle double-stacked intermodal containers used by Class 1 freight trains. That will all change in the future, as Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced that the state is the beneficiary of a $125 million federal grant. Maryland would like to use the money on expanding the Howard Street Tunnel so freight trains could reach the Port of Baltimore.

 

Officials have been working with CSX, which is a primary user of the tunnel. Funding also will be coming from the state and CSX. The Class 1 says it will provide $91 million.

 

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[CNJRoss]

AP via WBFF-TV Baltimore, MD 7/23/19
 

Maryland gov. announces $125M grant for Howard Street Tunnel

 

 

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Maryland will receive a $125 million federal grant for long-sought improvements to the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore.

 

Gov. Larry Hogan announced the grant Monday from the federal Infrastructure For Rebuilding America Grant Program.

 

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[CNJRoss]

The Baltimore Sun, 7/27/19

Shrouded in darkness, Baltimore’s Howard Street Tunnel is a workhorse rail artery

 

A work truck backs into the northern end of the Howard Street Tunnel at Mount Royal Station. (Jerry Jackson / Baltimore Sun)

 

Now that construction money appears to be coming to make the aged Howard Street Tunnel able to accommodate double-stacked CSX freight trains, it’s time to explain this workhorse rail artery.

 

Built from 1890 to 1895, the tunnel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Designed by prominent civil engineer Samuel Rea, it is part of a rail network known as the Baltimore Belt Line, which connects South Baltimore (Camden Station), Howard Street, Remington and 26th Street in Charles Village, Waverly and Clifton Park eastward to Bayview.

 

Long diesel-powered freight trains, bound for the Northeast U.S., carry automobiles, bulk cargoes and oil, as well as steel shipping containers marked Yang Ming, OOCL and Hapag Lloyd through its cellar-like confines.

 

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[CNJRoss]

The Baltimore Sun,7/31/19

With $125M from federal government, Maryland to seek more money from CSX, others for Howard Street Tunnel

 

 

The 124-year-old passage evolved into a critical link for East Coast commerce on what is now the CSX railroad, but it’s about 18 inches too short for today’s freight trains to carry truck-sized shipping containers stacked two high. For years, officials have wanted to fix the tunnel, a chokepoint for shipments between the Northeast and points west and south.

 

Jim White, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration, considered the tunnel the port of Baltimore’s Achilles’ heel, limiting the port’s container business. So when the federal government announced last week that it would pony up a $125 million federal grant to help pay for a $466 million project to expand the tunnel, White immediately began spreading the word to the major Asian shipping alliances about the project, which stands to make Baltimore a more attractive and cost-effective port.

 

“We’ll be selling our future ability to compete with all the other major U.S. ports in double-stack," White said. “We’ll go from not having good rail service here to having competitive rail service. Once we get the Howard Street Tunnel done, we’ll have a tremendous package here to offer container lines.”

 

One hitch remains to be resolved, and, of course, it’s money. The federal grant is $103 million less than the state had sought. Maryland has promised $147 million for the work, and CSX, which owns the tunnel, committed $91 million.

 

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[CNJRoss]

The Baltimore Sun, 7/31/19
 

OP-ED

 

Baltimore officials need to step up support for rebuilding Howard Street Tunnel

 

By James R. Jeffcoat

 

 

Years of persistence by the Hogan administration have finally paid off, resulting in a grant of $125 million of federal funding through the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America Grant Program (INFRA) administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation. This funding brings Baltimore another critical step closer to the reconstruction of the Howard Street Tunnel (HST).

 

The HST was originally built in 1890-95 by the B&O Railroad. Now it is owned and used by CSX Transportation. A rebuilt HST will provide a direct rail route through Baltimore City, rather than the current situation that requires CSX rail cars to go north for hundreds of miles in order to reach Midwestern and southern markets.

 

SNIP

 

Baltimore has many advantages as a port — strong port infrastructure, less congestion than New York and New Jersey, and an inland location closer to the Midwest than Norfolk or other southern ports. We need to rebuild the HST to maximize the economic benefits the Port of Baltimore brings to our city and state.

 

James R. Jeffcoat practices maritime law at Gorman & Williams in Baltimore.

 

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[CNJRoss]

The Washington Post, 8/5/19
 

Maryland to seek more money from CSX, others for Howard Street Tunnel

 

 

When the Howard Street Tunnel opened in 1895, the 1.4-mile bore under downtown Baltimore was a modern marvel. Iron-arched and lined with bricks, it used electricity to light the tunnel and power the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad engines pulling passengers and freight through it.

 

The 124-year-old passage evolved into a critical link for East Coast commerce on what is now the CSX railroad, but it’s about 18 inches too short for today’s freight trains to carry truck-size shipping containers stacked two high. For years, officials have wanted to fix the tunnel, a choke point for shipments between the Northeast and points west and south.

 

Jim White, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration, considered the tunnel the port of Baltimore’s Achilles’ heel, limiting the port’s container business. So when the federal government announced last month it would pony up $125 million to help pay for a $466 million tunnel expansion, White immediately began spreading the word to major Asian shipping alliances about the project, which stands to make Baltimore a more attractive and cost-effective port.

 

 

“We’ll be selling our future ability to compete with all the other major U.S. ports in double-stack,” White said. “We’ll go from not having good rail service here to having competitive rail service. Once we get the Howard Street Tunnel done, we’ll have a tremendous package here to offer container lines.”

 

One hitch remains to be resolved, and of course it’s money. The federal grant is $103 million less than the state had sought. Maryland has promised $147 million for the work, and CSX, which owns the tunnel, committed $91 million.

 

Gov. Larry Hogan, who called the project Maryland’s “most significant economic development accomplishment,” is preparing to negotiate with the Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad and other unnamed stakeholders over how to cover the shortfall.

 

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[CNJRoss]

The Baltimore Sun, 8/5/19

Letter to the Editor

Pay for tunnel expansion with container tax

 

 

 

Here’s a no brainer solution to Howard Street tunnel  .  .  .  a per-container charge for each container to pass through the tunnel.

 

Once the tunnel is paid off, the tax on containers expires!

 

Steven Davidson, New Windsor

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[CNJRoss]

The Baltimore Sun, 7/31/19
 

OP-ED

 

Baltimore officials need to step up support for rebuilding Howard Street Tunnel

 

 

 

More here.

 

 

The Baltimore Sun, 8/5/19

 

Letter to the Editor

Pay for tunnel expansion with container tax

 

 

 

Here’s a no brainer solution to Howard Street tunnel  .  .  .  a per-container charge for each container to pass through the tunnel.

 

Once the tunnel is paid off, the tax on containers expires!

 

Steven Davidson, New Windsor

More here.

[CNJRoss]

Logistics Management, 8/20/19
 

$125 million Baltimore tunnel grant opens double stack option for rail shippers

 

East Coast rail shippers stymied by the lack of double stack rail container option on a 125-year-old tunnel underneath Baltimore may be seeing light at the end of the tunnel. A $125 million federal grant issued by the Transportation Department under its Infrastructure of Rebuilding America Grant Program (INFRA) has reopened shippers’ long-held dream of allowing double stack service on a major rail line operated by CSX Transportation.

 

 

East Coast rail shippers stymied by the lack of double stack rail container option on a 125-year-old tunnel underneath Baltimore may be seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

 

A $125 million federal grant issued by the Transportation Department under its Infrastructure of Rebuilding America Grant Program (INFRA) has reopened shippers’ long-held dream of allowing doublestack service on a major rail line operated by CSX Transportation.

 

The $125 million is the good news. The bad news is the tunnel project is estimated to cost $466 million. Considering Maryland already had agreed to contribute $147 million and CSX $91 million, that leaves a shortfall of $103 million. 

 

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