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June 16, 2004
Board of Advisors Recruitment Continues The governing body of the Baltimore Transit Alliance is a Board of Advisors comprised of approximately 40 prominent members of the Baltimore region's business and civic leadership, as well as a smaller executive committee. GBC's Don Fry and the Baltimore Community Foundation's Tom Wilcox are taking the lead in contacting possible board members in anticipation of the next meeting on September 29, 2004.
GBC's Fry Addresses Local Chambers; Editorial Boards Business leaders must aggressively support the development of a comprehensive regional rail plan to provide commuting alternatives for a growing workforce, GBC President Don Fry told members of the Howard County Chamber of Commerce on May 21. Fry was the keynote speaker during the chamber's annual meeting at the Sheraton Hotel in Columbia. In May Fry also emphasized this point at meetings with the editorial boards of the community newspapers in the Baltimore region.
Update on Red and Green Line Studies MTA is continuing its studies of the Red Line from Social Security to Fells Point and the Green Line from Johns Hopkins Hospital. There have been no public meetings since Spring, 2003, but the project staff is collecting engineering and environmental data and negotiating a scope of work and budget with planning consultants who assist the agency. MTA intends to publish a project newsletter this Summer and conduct public workshops in the Fall. For project information, click here.
Caltrain Introduces Baby Bullet Service Caltrain, the commuter rail operation serving the San Francisco Bay Area, introduced a new express service from San Jose to San Francisco on June 7. The $127 million project was funded by the State of California, and included new locomotives and bi-level coaches as well as track and signal improvements. The so-called "Baby Bullet" travels at 79 MPH, and makes the trip in 57 minutes, a 40-minute reduction from regular trains. By comparison, trains on MTA's MARC Penn Line travel in excess of 110 MPH because they benefit from Amtrak's upgraded Northeast Corridor tracks and signal system. For details, click here.
Virginia Signs Contract for First Phase of Rail Extension to Dulles Earlier this month the Commonwealth of Virginia approved a contract to design and build an extension of Metro to Dulles Airport via Tysons Corner. The contract covers the entire 23-mile project, estimated to cost $4 billion, but initial work will be limited to preliminary engineering for the first segment. Virginia elected to contract with a private consortium to undertake the work instead of Metro citing as the reason the opportunity for the consortium to invest private funds in the project. For more information, click here.
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