Yellow Line (Baltimore)

The Yellow Line is a mass transit line proposed by the Baltimore Regional Rail Plan in March 2002 for the Baltimore, Maryland area. It would begin at Columbia Town Center in Columbia, Maryland, and end in Hunt Valley, Maryland at Shawan Road.[1]

Yellow Line
Overview
StatusProposed
LocaleBaltimore, Maryland
Termini
Service
TypeBus rapid transit, light rail, or heavy rail
SystemMaryland Transit Administration
Operator(s)Maryland Transit Administration
Technical
Line length42 mi (67.6 km)
Route map

Hunt Valley
Parking
Pepper Road
McCormick Road
Gilroy Road
Warren Road
Parking
Texas (short turn)
Fairgrounds
Parking
Timonium
Lutherville
Parking
Beltway North
Towson
Towson University
/ Medical Center
Rodgers Forge
Belvedere Square
Govans
East Cold Spring
Waverly
Johns Hopkins University
25th Street
Penn Station
Northeast Corridor
Mount Vernon
Charles Center
Baltimore Metro SubwayLink
Inner Harbor
Camden Yards
Stadium/​Federal Hill
Westport
Cherry Hill
Patapsco
Parking
Baltimore Highlands
Parking
Nursery Road
Parking
North Linthicum
Parking
Linthicum
BWI Business District
Parking
BWI Airport
Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport
BWI Rail Station
Northeast Corridor
Baltimore Commons
Arundel Mills
Dorsey
Meadowridge
Waterloo
Guilford
Columbia Gateway
Broken Land
Owen Brown
Merriweather
Columbia Town Center

Handicapped/disabled access All stations are accessible

Original vision

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As originally envisioned by the plan, the Yellow Line would conjoin with the existing Baltimore Light RailLink at BWI Business District station, and remain connected until Camden Yards station, where the two lines would spur to create a loop around Downtown Baltimore. In this small loop, the lines would both serve the Inner Harbor, Charles Center, Mt. Vernon stations, and Pennsylvania Station. At Penn Station, the Yellow Line would again split towards the north going through the neighborhoods of Station North, Charles Village, Waverly, Govanstown, Belvedere Square, and Towson. The Yellow Line would again meet up with the existing light rail line at Lutherville station. The lines would again conjoin until the northern terminus of Hunt Valley. Another station in the Yellow Line system was proposed for Texas, Maryland.[1][2]

Current status

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The future for the Yellow Line proposal seems doubtful, as only two proposed rail lines were included in the "final" Baltimore Regional Rail System Plan: the Red Line and the Green Line.[3] In the current Baltimore Regional Transit Map, yellow designates a branch from the existing Baltimore Light Rail line to the Cromwell Station in Glen Burnie, Maryland. The branches to Hunt Valley (north) and BWI Airport (south) are designated with the color blue.[4]

In summer 2013, a representative of the privately funded TU Foundation expressed interest at a public meeting in the idea of a suggested partnership between the foundation and local companies to build a short piece of the line near Towson University. That small line, designated as the "Towson Trolley" was informally presented as only covering Towson-area destinations (including St. Joseph's Hospital, Towson University, downtown Towson and Lutherville Station, where it was pitched as terminating). Despite being presented as a short-line trolley, the plan as presented emphasized track compatibility in order to allow future expansion. As of 2014, however, no public-record mention of the plan appears to have occurred for more than a year.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Baltimore Region Rail System Plan Archived 2011-09-09 at the Wayback Machine. Advisory Committee Report, March 2002.
  2. ^ Yohah Freemark (September 7, 2009). "Baltimore to advance Yellow Line project ahead of Metro extension?". The Transport Politic. Retrieved 2010-08-25
  3. ^ Baltimore Regional Rail System Plan: Final Report. MTA Maryland. Retrieved 2010-08-26
  4. ^ Baltimore Regional Transit Map. MTA Maryland. Retrieved 2010-08-26
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