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News Wire: Maryland light rail system may be back on track

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Posted by Brian Schmidt on Wednesday, June 21, 2017 9:08 AM

WASHINGTON — Maryland's Purple Line may have taken a turn for the better. A federal judge in Washington on Tuesday threw out portions of a lawsuit that had blocked progress on the program since August 2016, the Washington Post reported. The P...

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2017/06/21-maryland-purple-line

Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine

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    May 2003
  • From: US
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Posted by BaltACD on Sunday, June 25, 2017 9:44 PM

With Hogan as Govenor - ??????

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    July 2017
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Posted by BackupBob on Wednesday, July 5, 2017 11:07 AM

Yes, we will likely have a light rail system with a Republican governor in a mostly Democratic state.  

Republicans do not generally favor rail projects, as Democrats usually do, but Governor Larry Hogan studied the Purple Line and decided it should be built, with some features scaled back.  Hogan is our governor and he seems to be doing the job well.  He also happens to be a Republican.  

He asked that the stations be built for the currently planned consists, with provisions for lengthening them in the future.  He asked that a new, environmentally friendly track system be replaced with standard ties and ballast.  And he had a really elegant bridge of a unique design replaced with a standard one.  His thinking was that since it is just taking a streetcar over a body of water it does not need to be ornate and expensive.  

Hopefully we will soon start construction of the line soon.  Unfortunately, the activists and NIMBYs may have some more tricks up their very long sleeves.  

 

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