Travelers around Maryland will have new options and new routes with a planned 28-year-long expansion to MARC commuter rail service. Among them will be travelers in uniform, with two major military installations, Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fort Meade, connected to the line.
The military?s base realignment and closure process will change the region?s population base, adding civilian support staff and jobs as well as military staff not living on base.
It?s something the Maryland Transit Administration had firmly in mind when it began planning the expansion, spokesman Rich Solli said.
“Clearly the vision of BRAC coming along was a key instigator in the plan, we know there?s going to be a heavy load,” he said. “We definitely recognize with BRAC coming over the next five years, that it could add numbers to those areas.”
MTA announced this week a 28-year plan that would increase system capacity from about 27,000 riders daily to 100,000, and upgrade train cars and infrastructure by 2035.
Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fort Meade are served by MARC stops, and their lines will see short-term expansions under the plan, including two daily trains and a weekend train to the Penn Line and a new midday train to the Camden Line.
Fort Meade officials have undertaken a traffic study for the facility including road and transit options, according to base spokeswoman Summer Barkley, and the base plans to encourage MARC use with subsidies for employees.
“The potential catchment area for new employees is very large and studies will be needed to help focus areas for investment and transportation priorities,” Barkley said in a statement.
The expansion will occur in stages, which by 2015 would require major funding from state and federal sources, according to Henry Kay, MTA deputy administrator for planning and engineering. Kay said BRAC was one of the driving forces behind the plan?s creation, and the presence of the two military installations may help MTA secure federal funding for the transit system connecting them.
“You talk about the amount of trip-making that exists in that corridor, it?s a huge number,” he said. “We don?t see situation where MARC will be the dominant transportation method in that corridor, but we can be a much larger portion of it.”
