West Baltimore station

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Coordinates: 39°17′36″N 76°39′11″W / 39.293368°N 76.653172°W / 39.293368; -76.653172
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

West Baltimore
163[2]
Construction
Parking327 spaces[1]
AccessibleNo[1]
History
OpenedApril 30, 1984 (1984-04-30)[3]
Electrified1935[4][5]
Passengers
2018823 daily[6] Increase 7%
Services
Preceding station MARC Following station
Halethorpe
towards Union Station
 Penn Line Penn Station
towards Perryville
Former services at Edmondson
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Baltimore Airport
toward Washington, D.C.
 Chesapeake Baltimore
toward Philadelphia–Suburban
Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station
Frederick Road
toward Washington, D.C.
 Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Baltimore
toward Philadelphia

West Baltimore station is a

accessible
to people with some mobility disabilities, but MTA Maryland plans to renovate the station with accessible platforms and entrances.

History

Edmondson

The former Edmondson station building in 2017

The

Penn Station from the west, PRR through trains from Washington, D.C. to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania had to operate in reverse from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. To correct this, PRR planned to replace the two stops with a single intercity-oriented station located between them, along with a wye at the north end of the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel to allow trains to bypass Penn Station.[8]

PRR opened bidding for station construction in July 1916. Its cost was $50,000, the equivalent to $1,400,000 in 2023.

Spanish Mission style station, constructed of red brick with a terra-cotta tile roof, was designed by PRR staff architect William Holmes Cookman.[10] The station, named Edmondson, opened on May 1, 1917.[8] Original plans called for the installation of high-level platforms and a footbridge connecting them to the station building. However, this was delayed by the nationalization of railroads during World War I, and neither the station improvements nor the wye was ultimately built.[8]

Unlike the comparable

Penn Central from 1968 to 1976, then under Conrail until 1983, and finally as the Amtrak-operated, state-funded AMDOT service, which was renamed the MARC Penn Line
in 1984.

In March 1979, the station closed briefly following an accident that destroyed the stairway to the platform.[11] Amtrak's Chesapeake, a limited-stop commuter train between Washington and Philadelphia, began stopping at Edmondson on July 29, 1979.[11] The Chesapeake was discontinued on October 30, 1983.[12]

West Baltimore

Stairs leading to the platform of the West Baltimore station in May 2019; the two sets of stairs on each side on the station are the entrances to the platform.

Edmondson continued to be a stop on the state-funded commuter service. The Edmondson and Frederick Road stops were closed on April 27, 1984; they were replaced with the West Baltimore station, located two blocks to the south of Edmondson Avenue, on April 30.[13] The stairs and platforms were removed, but the station building remains in place as a private business, which it had been converted to prior to the stop's closure.[10]

In 2009, it was announced that approximately 400 parking spaces east of Pulaski Street would be added, as part of the project to remove the portion of Interstate 170, which is now Route 40, that never carried vehicular traffic. The spots were not to be permanent, but instead only available until redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood.[14] The expressway was demolished in the fall of 2010, and the spaces opened soon after.

West Baltimore station has attracted criticism for being unsafe due to crime and the poor conditions of the platforms and staircases, which are crumbling and rusted.[15]

As part of the larger project to repair the Interstate 170 area, the station will be improved over a period of several years. Immediate repairs to the stairs and platforms and improved shelters and lighting, were made in 2014. The platforms are planned to be extended to serve more cars per train and raised for

Frederick Douglass Tunnel project.[17]

Bus connections

The station is also served by seven MTA Bus routes:[2]

  • CityLink Blue – Johns Hopkins Bayview to Westgate / CMS
  • CityLink Orange – West Baltimore to Essex
  • CityLink Pink – West Baltimore to Cedonia
  • LocalLink 26 – Mondawmin Metro to South Baltimore Park & Ride
  • LocalLink 77
    – West Baltimore MARC to Catonsville
  • Express BusLink 150
    – Harbor East to Columbia
  • Express BusLink 163
    – West Baltimore MARC to Tradepoint Atlantic

References

  1. ^ a b c "MARC Station Information". Maryland Transit Administration. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Bus and Rail Connections" (PDF) (Map). Maryland Transit Administration. August 15, 2022. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  3. ^ McCord, Joel (April 28, 1984). "New Station, New Schedule for Rail Users". The Baltimore Sun. p. 12. Retrieved February 1, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. Baltimore, Maryland. January 28, 1935. p. 28. Retrieved January 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. The Daily Home News. New Brunswick, New Jersey. February 9, 1935. p. 3. Retrieved January 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ^ "December 2018 MARC performance (for Nov 18) – Ridership" (PDF). Maryland Transit Administration. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  7. ^ Bromley, George W.; Bromley, Walster S. (1906). Plate 11: Part of Wards 16, 18, 19 & 20. G.W. Bromley and Co. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. ^ a b c d Hayden, Philip A. (September 11, 2015). "MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY FORM: Baltimore & Potomac RR, Edmondson Avenue Station" (PDF). Federal Railroad Administration. pp. 1–9.
  9. ^ "Pennsylvania to Erect New Station". Baltimore. Vol. 9, no. 11. Merchants and Manufacturers Association of Baltimore, MD. August 1916. p. 2 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ a b "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Midtown Edmondson Historic District" (PDF). City of Baltimore. p. 25.
  11. ^ a b Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE SUCCESSORS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY AND THEIR HISTORICAL CONTEXT: 1979" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society.
  12. ^ Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE SUCCESSORS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY AND THEIR HISTORICAL CONTEXT: 1980–89" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society.
  13. ^ McCord, Joel (April 28, 1984). "New station, schedule for rail users". Baltimore Sun – via Newspapers.com.Free access icon
  14. ^ Schultz, Sue (February 23, 2009). "MTA adding 400 parking spaces at West Baltimore MARC station". Baltimore Business Journal. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  15. ^ Shen, Fern & Reutter, Mark (October 15, 2013). "A tale of two train stations: Rusty stairs and "airborne" concrete steps greet passengers using MARC's West Baltimore station". Baltimore Brew. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  16. ^ "West Baltimore MARC Station Projects: Project News & Updates Community Meeting" (PDF). Maryland Transit Administration. February 24, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  17. ^ "Frederick Douglass Tunnel Program". Amtrak. Retrieved November 7, 2023.

External links

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