Grand Slam idea does not even reach the plate in Maryland

Maryland officials have rejected a proposal to build a new rail tunnel underneath the city of Baltimore.

The Baltimore Grand Slam has turned into a big out.

Back in February, AmeriStarRail LLC proposed digging a rail tunnel underneath the city of Baltimore. The tube would be 10 miles long, hold four railroad tracks and avoid the Baltimore Potomac Tunnel, which has been a rail bottleneck for decades. The line would link to the Northeast Corridor, eliminate Penn Station, and allow trains to run at 160 mph. The new route also would have 30 stations and would be used by Amtrak, MARC trains and a newly created metro service.

Recently, the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Maryland Transit Administration officially nixed the idea, following Amtrak’s rejection a couple of years earlier.

Amtrak has been engaged in replacing a 4-mile section of the Baltimore Potomac Tunnel, and officials are not going to stop construction, which is scheduled to begin next year and will cost $4 billion. Two tunnels will be built and will allow trains to move through at 100 mph.

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