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For 'Amtrak Joe' Biden, Baltimore rail tunnel visit personal
AP NewsWASHINGTON (AP) — Ulysses S. Grant was still president when workers finished the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, which connected Philadelphia and Washington through rail travel for the first time.
But 150 years later, the tunnel that runs under some of Baltimore’s residential neighborhoods is more of a chokepoint than a lifeline. There’s only one tube, and trains need to slow down to just 30 mph (48 kilometers per hour) to navigate a tight turn on the southern end.
It’s a problem that President Joe Biden knows well, having commuted from Delaware to Washington on Amtrak for decades while serving as a U.S. senator. Last week he recalled walking the length of the tunnel, illuminated only by lights on a string as water dripped from the roof.
“There’s a great worry,” he said, “that part of it could collapse.”
But 150 years later, the tunnel that runs under some of Baltimore’s residential neighborhoods is more of a chokepoint than a lifeline. There’s only one tube, and trains need to slow down to just 30 mph (48 kilometers per hour) to navigate a tight turn on the southern end.
It’s a problem that President Joe Biden knows well, having commuted from Delaware to Washington on Amtrak for decades while serving as a U.S. senator. Last week he recalled walking the length of the tunnel, illuminated only by lights on a string as water dripped from the roof.
“There’s a great worry,” he said, “that part of it could collapse.”
This is why there will never be "real" high rail in the northeast corridor. You have to build completely new infrastructure for trains running at 250-300 mph, not jury rig something that's 175 years old.
