“No sir, we’re not going to do that.
Th at’s how the system got so bastardized
in the fi rst place – 50 years of that.”
Another big diff erence from many
transit systems, MTA has a dedicated
funding source. Th e state has a transportation
14 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | JUNE 2017
trust fund. Th e state highway, port,
airport and transit share the money that’s
divided out by the general assembly, governor
and secretary.
Comfort described it as, “Th is is the
pinnacle of transit in Maryland.
“To me … it’s the place where I could
have the most infl uence for good. I really
want to use transit as a tool, as a mechanism,
to improve people’s lives.”
Rail Asset Management
Like other agencies of its age and size,
MTA is facing aging infrastructure. Th e
subway system is 30 years old, light rail
is 25 years old. Comfort said they had to
make some dramatic fi xes because they
were very close to having signifi cant issues.
“Th ere are all these things we want to do
that are great – BaltimoreLink, Purple Line,
maglev, but there is one thing we cannot
do and that is have a derailment or some
signifi cant safety failure,” he stressed. “Everybody
needs to be focused on that.”
MTA Director MARC Train and Commuter
Bus Services Erich Kolig talked
about what they’re doing to update the
MARC fl eet. He said they just bought 54
new bi-level cars from Bombardier, which
are now in service to help with capacity
problems, and they have a third of the fl eet
going through an overhaul with Bombardier.
“Th ey’re going to come back out of
that with passenger amenities and a refresh
of all the safety systems and running
gear,” he said.
Th ey have the MARC 2s, single-level
cars that they’re gradually fading out of
service, which are about 35 to 45 years
old and at the end of their lifecycle. Th e
MARC 3 vehicles are about 20 years old
now and are the ones going through the
overhaul. Th e MARC 4s are the brand
new cars.
With a lot of bike service, they’ve taken
one of the single-level cars and converted
the interior so there are full-size bike racks
on one side, which can carry up to 23 bicycles
at a time. Th ey have four of those
cars so that there can be bike service on
every train on the weekend.
THE SECOND newly rebuilt light rail car,
Number 5036, at MTA’s Light Rail
Shop in Glen Burnie. All light rail cars
will be rebuilt over the next few years.
“It has been fantastically well received,”
said Kolig. ‘We won an award for that from
the Washington Area Bike Community
Association.”
Th ey’ve installed new bike racks at
most of the stations and they’re installing
bike racks on all of their trailer cars so
they can provide bike service on a weekday
basis, as well. Kolig said, “We’re taking
out a few seats and we’re putting in a
couple bike racks per car and that way, on
a full-size train, we’ll be carrying between
12 and 16 bikes.
“Th at will be phased on to all our
lines and all of our weekday service.” He
continued, “We’ll have full bike compatibility
that meets Maryland’s goals for
bike initiatives.”
And while there were questions about
taking out seating to fi t bikes, he said the
new bi-level cars have 20 percent more
seats than a single-level car so they can
meet the capacity needs.
Th ey have eight new Tier 4 locomotives
on order from Siemens. Kolig said the engines
are capable of operating at 125 mph
and will help them in providing clean, effi
cient, reliable service.
For the MTA fl eet, the metro is at the
end of its lifecycle and that is a $600 million
vehicle replacement project. Th e light
rail is at its midlife point. Th ose vehicles
are all being refurbished, a $150 million
project with Alstom.
BaltimoreLink
Th e big project that needed to be taken
on at MTA was the one that transported
the majority of its customers: the bus
service. About 385,000 people a day ride
MTA and about two-thirds of that ride
BALTIMORE