Harford County transit riders could see MARC train service to Elkton by 2015, state transportation planners say, potentially opening more of Cecil County and parts of Delaware to workers commuting to Aberdeen Proving Ground.
Diane Ratcliff, Maryland Transit Administration planning director, told Elkton officials last week that extending MARC service to the community is among MARC?s goals for 2015. But several long-term projects rank higher on the priority list.
MARC?s northernmost station is at Perryville, just across the Susquehanna from Harford County and Havre de Grace. Through MARC, riders can connect to Fort Meade or farther south to Washington. Six miles from Elkton, on the other side of Cecil County, is Newark, Del., and the southern terminus of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.
“Once they get to Delaware, we get to SEPTA, and once we get to SEPTA, we can go to Philadelphia, New York and beyond,” said Kevin Racine, a Harford County advocate for expanding mass transit. “The influx of people coming here are very pro-transit.”
A study commissioned by the Chesapeake Science and Security Corridor predicted more than 1,000 of the 45,000 new residents following military and civilian contractor jobs to Aberdeen Proving Ground will live in New Castle County, Del. Last year, the corridor group made filling in the 20-mile gap in train service one of its main priorities.
Racine said he was working with the mayors of Aberdeen, Havre de Grace, Perryville, North East and Elkton to get them to declare their support for expansion of transit through the area.
Ratcliff says MARC will be required to spend millions of dollars in the next few years just to retain its existing level of service. She says a cost estimate for extending MARC service to Elkton has not been determined, but it likely will require all new rail lines.
MARC shares tracks with AMTRAK trains north of Baltimore.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
