The DC Station For a 15-Minute Train to Baltimore Comes Into Focus

• November 20, 2019

by Nena Perry-Brown

Early last year, UrbanTurf reported on the potential routes and stations for the Northeast Maglev train, which would facilitate travel between DC and Baltimore in 15 minutes. Now, as the Federal Railroad Administration and Maryland Department of Transportation-Maryland Transit Administration refine the draft environmental impact statement (EIS), more information is being released about the station stops and timeline for the project.

While there remain two options for how the route will take shape between Greenbelt and BWI Airport, the relative location of the termini of the line have been identified. At a meeting on Tuesday night, David Henley, project director for Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail, said that the Baltimore station will be above ground in Cherry Hill, and handed out materials indicating the DC station will be near Mount Vernon Square Metro station, along New York Avenue between 4th and 7th Streets NW.

The Mount Vernon Square East station would have an entrance and parking on the parking lot site northwest of 5th and K Street NW (map). The station would sit 120 feet below street level, and the maglev route would then continue 130 feet below grade down New York Avenue for about five miles before crossing into Prince George's County.

The majority of the route will be underground with the exceptions of some portions in Prince George's and Anne Arundel Counties along the Baltimore-Washington Parkway; there will also be an intermediary stop beneath BWI Airport. The maglev team is exploring where to locate various ancillary facilities to service the system, including a substation and another facility northeast of the New York and Montana Avenue NE intersection (map). 

A final route will be selected and the exact station and facility locations are expected to be established in mid-2020. Construction of the DC-to-Baltimore line will take another ten years after all approvals are secured; the portion along (and below) New York Avenue between 7th Street NW and North Capitol Street will take three years. 

Eventually, the plan is to extend the route to New York with "local" stops in Wilmington, Delaware; at Philadelphia International Airport; in Philadelphia proper; and at Newark Liberty International Airport. The trip from DC to New York would take one hour; once this route is completed, the line will be extended to Boston.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/from-mount-vernon-triangle-to-baltimore-in-15-minutes/16164