A lot of "why doesn't the light rail do this or go there" boils down to NIMBYs in the 90s.

The baltimore light rail was originally supposed to be a grade seperated subway on a totally different alignment until nimbys in anne arundel cancelled it, and so the current awful alignment is due to the train being built along an abandoned freight line. It completely misses most of the population centers while going north/south, and then gets stuck in traffic downtown. (the downtown freight segment is a tunnel which is still used) It's really the worst of both worlds lol.

I rode the Baltimore light rail last week from Camden Yards back to Penn Station. Well, to Mt. Royal, the closest stop to Penn Station. Yeah it was a little annoying to have to wait at traffic lights while on a light rail. The service was fine.

The system uses ROW once used by interurban streetcar lines and the commuter rail routes of the Northern Central Railway, Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway, and Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad. It was built quickly and inexpensively without federal funds so it could be built in time for Orioles Park's opening at Camden Yards, thus because of that, to save money, much of the system was built with only a single track. While this allowed the system to be constructed and opened quickly, it limited the system's flexibility, and so federal money was later acquired to double track most of the system. Station placement and design were intended to be flexible and change over time, as stations could be built or closed at low cost. However, they were at times dictated by politics rather planning, as proposed stops in Ruxton, Riderwood, and Cross Keys were not built due to local opposition, while Mt. Royal and Timonium stations were built despite nearly being removed from the plan because the University of Baltimore and a local business group funded them. So yeah, the light-rail goes through the least-densely populated parts for much of the journey, there was a lot of opposition to stations (which is also why they opted not to build one at Glen Burnie town center), and freight right of way limited the connectivity of the stations to the areas where they are located. Compare that with the HBLR in New Jersey which also mainly uses repurposed right-of-way but they go through packed neighborhoods and when in downtown Jersey City, they're grade-separated (except Essex Street) and have priority signals.

In my (admittedly rare) use-case, the Light Rail is pretty useful for me. I live in Southern PA along I-83 and work in Washington, DC. When I take transit, I park at Timonium Fairgrounds and take light rail to MICA/Mt Royal (which is, as you know, nearly all right-of-way trackage) walk to Penn Station and take the MARC in. I could take a commuter bus from Howard County and park there but, in addition to avoiding the extra mileage, taking the light rail means not having to contend with the ever-awful I-695 Beltway, made worse by the construction and getting worse with the upcoming closure of the I-70 EB/I-695 IL ramp for more construction. Baltimore Light Rail could definitely be better but it definitely has its uses.

Baltimore fun facts: Babe Ruth was also born in Baltimore in 1895! In 1774, the first post office in the US was inaugurated in Baltimore, and ten years later in 1884, Baltimore made history again by establishing the first telegraph line in the country, connecting to Washington DC. Composer Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to the Star-Spangled Banner while witnessing the flag flying over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, set to the tune of a British song called "To Anacreon in Heaven". To honor Fort McHenry's role, it has become national tradition that when a new flag is designed it first flies over Fort McHenry! Baltimore was the site of the first manned balloon launch in the US! Edward Warren, a 13-year-old, flew in the balloon, which had been provided by Peter Carnes, a tavern keeper and lawyer, in a wicker “chariot.” Carnes had wanted to be the one to ride in the basket, however, he was too heavy to do so. Warren’s balloon flight began a balloon craze that swept the country from the late 1700s to the early 1800s. The Camden Line is interesting in that it's one of the US's oldest rail routes still in operation as the B&O began running commuter service from Baltimore to Ellicott City (Ellicott City station closed but is the oldest remaining passenger railway station in the US) over part of the trackage in May 1830! The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States! Not to mention the B&O's Washington Branch Railway, now along the Camden Line, was the first railroad to serve DC!

Yes, this line, mostly as it appears now, was built because it was politically feasible. It ended up being built with only state funds, no federal funds. To second the comments concerning NIMBYs along the line, those places vehemently opposed a station in that area, citing crime (but there's always more to that, so to say). I believe the interurban line they used for this section used to have a station there. The term "Loot Rail" came to be used derisively to describe it in places where it did run (no matter what the crime stats have ever said.) Not sure how someone was supposed to knock over a store or rob someone's house and escape on a train with headways like that. MDOT MTA got some money from the feds in recent years to work on the Penn/Camden Connector. It's possible, but not guaranteed, that MARC may use it one day to move revenue trains between the two MARC lines. In this scenario, some Penn Line trains would terminate at Camden Yards, which would make that station, and the connection there with light rail, more important, especially since Penn Line trains run on the weekends. Trains used to approach BWI at higher speeds until an operator overran the barrier. That was like 25 years ago. Hopefully they'll get low-floor cars for the line one day, if they ever build the Red Line, which is supposed to get low-floor cars. If it's ever built. Lake Roland (and the adjoining park) are owned by Baltimore City and managed by Baltimore County. The southern section uses sections of the old Baltimore and Annapolis railroad. It's too bad we can't have rail service to Annapolis now.

The park-and-rides, while definitely an eyesore and bad land use, get solid use during baseball and football seasons. They get packed and run pretty frequently before and after O's games. The airport line not running any express service is a major indictment of the system as a whole. All told, the light rail is just a subpar rail line that suburbanites in Anne Arundel, Baltimore County, and Baltimore City neutered.

The neighborhoods of rowhouses directly bordering the light rail explicitly told the state not to build stations there.

Maryland has quite the unique state flag, I completely understand why they love it so much! Whether you like the Maryland flag or not, there's no denying that the Maryland flag is unique. While other states put their shield/coat of arms in the middle of the flag, in the case of Maryland...it makes up the WHOLE flag! It's the 17th-century heraldic banner of arms of Cecil, 2nd Baron Baltimore. The black and gold is Lord Baltimore's banner (from his father, George Calvert 1st Baron Baltimore) and is also on the flag of Baltimore (though the Baltimore flag has the Battle Monument in the middle which commemorates the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812), while the red and white is called the Crossland banner and is from his grandmother. During the Civil War, Marylanders who sided with the Confederacy affiliated with the Crossland banner while those who fought for the Union wore the Lord Baltimore banner. The flag in its present form was first flown in 1880 but wasn't officially adopted as the state flag until 1904. Other state flags I love are Alaska's and New Mexico's! On Alaska's flag, the blue not just represents the Alaskan sky, but also the forget-me-not, its official flower! And speaking of Alaskan Natives: An Alaskan Native designed the state flag! Thirty-two years before Alaska became a state, a territorial flag contest was held for Alaskan children from seventh grade to twelfth grade. In 1927, the contest committee chose Benny Benson's design. Benny Benson was a Qawalangin (Fox Islander) Unangan who was a fourteen-year-old orphan living at the Jesse Lee Home for Children in Seward at the time of the contest, choosing the familiar constellation he looked for every night before going to sleep at the orphanage. His design was chosen over 700 others, and he won a thousand dollars which he used to enroll in the Hemphill Diesel Engineering School for Diesel engine repair. New Mexico's flag has the ZIa symbol, which has sacred meaning to the Zia people. Four is a sacred number symbolizing the Circle of Life; the four directions, the four times of day, the four stages of life, and the four seasons. The circle binds these four elements of four together. This symbol is why NM's capitol is round as its the Zia symbol when seen from above

4 miles between Lutherville and Falls Road stations because the residents of Ruxton and that area didn't wan't city dwellers running through their neighborhood and they were right because at the Lutherville station they were plagued by car break ins on the light rail and adjacent shopping center parking lots and product shrinkage in the stores next to it and eventually the whole shopping center their closed.

As someone who has rode the whole line several times, a large chunk of its weirdness is because it has done very quickly to open with Camden Yards as one of the requirements for the stadium i think was to get a mass transit connection and the line gets very busy when the stadiums are in use. Also the Fall Road station acutally leads to a very large park, Lake Roland Park, formerly Robert E Lee park.

"Politically viable" yes. Light Rail is built on pure politics in Baltimore. It's built on some freight rail lines gotten from Norfolk Southern. Thus, it falls under FRA rules. You're in one of the rebuilt cars, which removed the "stop" button and had the operators stop at every station. They *used* to run every 7.5 minutes when they had more single-track sections but now it's been extended due to requests to get more service north of Penn Station. It could of been better, alas.

9:27 Yes! It was an old rail road. It was called the Baltimore Annapolis Rail Road or B&A for short. The light rail in some sections apparently use the same track! So yes, they acquired the land through the B&A Rail Road.

Originally the North Central Rail Line to the northern Baltimore County suburbs and to York, Pa. Nice hiking trail along that abandoned right of way now. Only 7% of the costs are from the fair-box, running a deficit of about $50B's a year in part because students ride for free because the city does not provide school buses and seniors ride for $1 and many others avoid getting a ticket. Now they want to replace the cars for $250-$300M, That plus the deficits would equal around $1B over a decade to run a line that has maybe only 1,000 daily adult paying customers. Each monthly adult ticket holders card is subsidized by thousands of dollars each month.

The worst part of the cold spring station is that it serves to high schools less than 5 minutes walk away. Not pedestrian friendly at all

For reflections from both a fan and a regular Baltimore MTA commuter. First I agree the Baltimore system is terrible and does not use land appropriately. Unfortunately the light rail has become more reliable than the subway (despite the horrible schedule and bunching) as the subway is frequently single-tracking or shutdown due to the installation of cbtc and crumbling station platforms. You rode on the newly renovated tram cars. The cars originally had a stop request function as Hamburg Street (m&t Bank stadium) was a request only stop. The cars originally did not have such great signage or announcements either. The Cold spring light rail station is horrible. However because of the MTA bus system crossing that intersection is frequently required. The falls road light rail station actually runs through a state park (hence the lake).

Come to Phoenix and you will see plenty of strip malls with tram stops. It is a funny sight, lmao. But hey I am all for more transit!

this seems to carry a lot of the lapses in execution that Light Rail systems built in the 1990's tend to have; no signal priority, built with austerity in mind - they wanted to deliver a transit project on the cheap and ended up building a tram / Light Rail hybrid with street running segments in NIMBY- approved industrial parks on already-owned ROW. It's something that COULD be so much better with some key plans for land-use improvements in the future. It's good that it's there but hopefully one day it can really be improved. Also i really dig the MARC connection at Camden Yards, definitely one of the better elements of the system. Great for getting to the stadiums.

Interesting seeing a light rail tram system running in Baltimore. Many years ago, Baltimore had a tramway system, which was eventually closed back in 1963.

So glad I found your channel! Thanks for visiting Baltimore. Our Light Rail has its advantages. As other commenters have said, most of the issues with the system are related to the residents who could care less about the benefits of a light rail, tram or any public transportation system. Yes, there are the NIMBYs, but it's more than that. By now, too many generations of people don't remember that Baltimore had a complete streetcar system before oil and bus companies destroyed it, not to mention the growth of cars, highways and the suburbs in general. They don't know or care about public transportation ... Baltimore City lost nearly half of its population the suburbs. Business and industry followed, and a prime example is the McCormick spice company which has a large facility that the Light Rail runs through in the Hunt Valley area. The company's manufacturing facility used to be downtown for decades but began moving to the county in 1970. You would think the Light Rail would be crowded with workers traveling there, but this one line of public transportation is not convenient for most, even if they really knew about it... Since it is Light Rail and not a tram, the horns and barriers are needed, as too many unsuspecting drivers and pedestrians could be crushed and killed (and some have been) by the large trains... Service to the sports stadiums, symphony hall / cultural center, the arena, and the airport is a significant benefit, with the stadium traffic from park and ride lots in the county being very popular. (I have used the Light Rail to and from the airport, but sometimes I feel like I'm the only one.) Yes, the Cold Spring Lane station is dangerous for pedestrians, especially walking east and crossing the on-ramp to the expressway, but it's convenient (and, or course, much safer by bus)... The cash-only ticketing machine system is only "temporary", while a 14-month long modernization of the machines takes place... Sadly, the blighted area between the symphony hall and the convention center was once a thriving retail downtown retail district that began to wither away like other downtown shopping districts around the country, long before the Metro and the Light Rail were built, but the construction of both and the placement of large trains and not trams down the center of Howard Street were the final nails (or spikes in this case) in the coffin for pedestrian traffic at the Howard and Lexington Street hub, not to mention Antique Row, just north of there.

Did you notice the fare machines tend to return dollar coins? Fun fact. Next time buy your fare with a $20 bill and see what happens.

I can hear Miles in Transit right now, “Aaaahhh! Dots!” 😜

15:37 something spotted in the distance that would not be there in less than 18 days' time

Someone might’ve mentioned this, but the Light Rail mostly uses Right of Way of the old Northern Central Railway. Despite what it seems today, this was a passenger route for the PRR, with trains doubling back in Penn Station to head north to Harrisburg via York, or south along the NEC to Union Station. The Maintenance Facility for the Light Rail is a former stabling yard for locomotives waiting to swap trains, with steamers (and briefly diesels I think) heading north. It also has electric helper locomotives for mostly freight trains heading south. Strangely, freights from Harrisburg to Baltimore and Potomac Yard were powered by electric locos back then, and it wasn’t until Amtrak’s National Limited that a trip from DC to Harrisburg could be made entirely with electric locomotives.

A little history on why the alignment is so weird on the northernmost section of the line - between North Avenue Station in the city and Gilroy Road in Cockeysville, the line follows a former railroad right of way. As stated in other comments, most of this was the Northern Central (later PRR, then Penn Central) which ran to York, PA. Shortly before Warren Road Station (heading north), the light rail splits from the former mainline at a wye (the original mainline disappears into trees and the remaining rail ends at the next road crossing). The light rail then follows the route of a former freight spur which was constructed in the 1970s to serve the industrial park the line now travels through. There were actually some spurs off this spur to various industries, some of which are still partially in-place and can be seen curving away from the right of way when riding. The freight line ended at McCormick Spice, which obviously wasn't an ideal end-point for light rail service, so beyond this point, the tracks follow the existing street grid (hence the single-track section with tight curves). Freight service actually lasted until around 2006 to Cockeysville, and 2012 to a couple of industries between North Avenue and Falls Road. I remember seeing tank cars set out at Fleischmanns Vinegar at Cold Spring Lane until around this time. The trains would run outside of Light Rail operating hours. Also a note on the light rail vehicles - I believe the one you rode is the only one with that seat pattern. Most of them, at least when I was a frequent rider about a decade ago, had a more basic design, but I remember that one. They actually all had stop request buttons when I rode them - I assume they were removed when the cars were refurbished. It's a very odd system - part tram, part light rail, and part commuter rail, while it misses most of the commercial and residential centers along the route for either political or cost saving reasons.

It’s not one of my favorite light rail systems because of the infrequency, lack of good transfers and still using high floor trains. I wish my light rail in Norfolk wasn’t politically panned. It would’ve made it to the beach by now.

Wow, imagine if Maryland actually encouraged transit oriented development and actually invested to improve the system, Nathan wouldn't be the only rider in most of the shots. That being said, I'm glad it exists and I wish my city had tram service to the airport.

The four mile no-station space after the Lutherville station was supposed to have a station. However, the light rail passes through one of the richest neighborhoods in Baltimore County (Ruxton) with enough power to not allow a station to be built.

I think the reason they only allow cash is they don't want to front the money to upgrade the machines to EMV readers which read the chip. If you look at the card readers they're ancient.

@19:20 That is a UPS operated MD-11F (And yes its actually called a tri-jet) these things were so unsafe in passenger operations for aa while they were barred operating them (Notably DC-10 crisis) the MD-11 is the modernized & rather brilliant fix to the horrendous DC-10: and is now one of the most popular cargo planes ever build: UPS have 100+ of them and Fedex have 223. As an aviation geek, these things are so so fun to watch, climbing almost streight up like a rocket (cause 3 engines=overpowered) and slamming down for landings. fun fact, the reason this airplane has 3 engines, is not because it needs them, it needs 2, but before (ETOPS, or essentially extended twin engine over-water operations) it was not possible or allowed to fly anything with less than 3 engines over long bodies of water, however the demand for a 747 was just not there on most routes, the DC-10 solved this problem by having three engines, allowing it to fly over long distances of water, while having a lower passenger capacity than the 747.

I've always wondered about the Baltimore light rail, especially after I visited jersey City and saw the NJT light rail at the exchange place station. Almost every minute there is a light rail at the station even at night on a weekend.

Two random fun facts: 1, you can use a SmarTrip card from DC to tag on at those weird cash-only fare machines if you have cash value loaded (i.e., no WMATA passes) and you can also add an MDOT MTA pass to SmarTrip. and 2, the smooth jazz is also played on an FM radio station operated by the transit authority - back in the day they set it up to pipe music into the platforms as an easy way to make systemwide announcements

It's pretty useless for short trips in the downtown area. The charm city circulator runs a parallel route (which is also fare-free) that is much better. There are lots of MTA buses on a similar route too.

Probably partly built on old freight lines i'd guess?Having that track equipment close to the public area is a temptation to have people tamper with it or try to steal the copper wiring for scrap value which is a major problem across the world.

The cold spring lane stop is actually one of the most useful stops on the line since it connects to a busy east-wast bus line, 2 schools, and a populated neighborhood (mine). I also might be biased since it's technically my home stop, even though I don't use the light rail cause it sucks lol

The fare machines used to take credit cards. Must have changed some time in the past year.

Hey, it was interesting to hear an outside expert's thoughts on my local light rail system. I agree that frequency should be greater, but an easy phone app (Transit) provides real-time departure times for local buses, Metro, and light rail and is generally pretty accurate. I live a 5-minute walk from my station downtown and use the system to get to the airport and back for flights, and I find it extremely useful (and cheap) for that purpose.

I enjoy riding Baltimore's light rail for fun. Though not the best, I still enjoy taking trips to BWI or other terminals and hanging around. The trains themselves Ive liked since I was little, and I've seen their rehabbed (current) variants take over the system.

I used to live in Baltimore being from Washington DC. I actually like the light rail.

The reason why it terminates at the Town Center is that there was a large mall there but went bust.

Manchester Metrolink also has level crossing barriers on the tram system.

MARC train also stops at the Amtrak BWI station, but has a limited luggage policy, basically only what you can easily carry by yourself in carry-on size, not a ton of storage for bigger checked bags. And then the light rail goes only to the international terminal, terminal E. The largest airline presence at BWI is Southwest located in terminals A, B, and C. The BWI connections look like they mean well, but if you’re not an airport employee with limited bags, they leave a lot to be desired. Lol. And yea the suburban light rail stations mainly being big park and rides are funny. Baltimore pretends to have decent transit, but is still decidedly car-centric.

A few notes: -The Penn Branch was shut down during covid, and last I heard is slated to reopen once they finish the project to reconstruct several platforms at Penn Station. -The reason it doesn't go all the way to central Glen Burnie is because there was a ton of pushback from Glen Burnie residents and business owners due to fears of crime 🙄 and the planners had no spine to fight this opposition so they just caved. -This is also why there are no stops between Falls Rd and Lutherville -They used to allow credit cards until very recently, I think there was some technological issue that cropped up from how old the machines are, and the MTA deemed it too difficult to do whatever was needed for the machines to be able to continue accepting credit cards. They plan to one day replace all the machines, but no clue when that will happen. -The trains used to have stop request strips pre-refurbishment, but despite originally planning to use them, they never actually used them in practice and just got rid of them during the refurbishment. -I believe the Howard St section used to have transit priority but is currently tuened off. Oof. -A lot of the weirdness of the light rail can be explained when you realize that it was built as quickly and cheaply as possible in time for the opening of Camden Yards. The goal wasn't to have a useful transit service, the goal was "we want light rail to Camden Yards"

I know people definitely do use light rail because a few months ago they had to shut it down entirely for safety issues and having no light rail for about two weeks was a big deal

When arriving internationally do the mobile lounges raise to the aircraft?

Grew up riding this line a lot. Cool to see it from another perspective. If it weren’t for fervent NIMBYism, it would be way better. I really hope MTA does a better job with managing the Purple Line than they have with this line.

Have you ever tried the Jersey City NJ Light rail?

I had a friend who lived in Baltimore called it the "MurderRail" because of all the crime.

4:10 You don't know Maryland drivers lol. The use of guards is one of the only good decisions made. Otherwise drivers would block trams daily. They don't give a frick.

In the section where the pass the house those people don't want public transit. They very much would prefer the light rail didn't exist

Ainda consigo me chocar com esses suburbios dos states viu? completamente fora da minha realidade. essa cidade ai parece ser tenebrosa pelo que vc mostrou. sobre os trens, aqui no Rio temos light rail tambem, é chamado de VLT e só circula na parte central da cidade + zona portuária. ele usa sinos pra chamar atenção em cruzamentos, não a buzina( mas ele tem buzina para casos de emergência). temos 4 linhas por aqui, e VLT serve como conector pros demais modais que chegam ao centro e as partes turísticas da zona portuária. gostei bastante do vídeo.

Baltimore looks like it's falling apart. That region seems to need a lot of TLC

We call it 'light rail', not trams in USA.

Whole lot of guessing in this video and not a lot of research.... 🤦🏾

15:35 key bridge😕

First this is not a tram. It’s a rebuilt inter Urban railway. this is also first generation for Maryland light rail. It’s not Boston. So cut Baltimore a break. WB&A was the old system. Look it up.

School students ride the light rail and subway for free

They put a stop in at/near Cherry Hill. At that point no other neighborhood wanted a stop anywhere near them. The route north and south wasn't picked because it was a good idea, it was picked because it had once been used for other small railroads or abandoned routes and so could be purchased and bought quickly. One of the biggest early effects (along with providing criminals a quick route into suburbs they could rob) was to demolish the business/retail corridor on Howard Street in the city by eliminating any place near those businesses to park. Free riding has been a problem since day one and the line has never brought in the revenues it needs to operate so it's a constant money suck, and except on game days at the stadiums is running well below even it's limited capacity. Frankly it's track record as a useless money pit is one of the reasons Larry Hogan, when he was governor, refused to double down on failure when the second "light" rail line, the red line was proposed.Frankly, neither of Baltimore's mass transit lines was well thought out, not accompanied by the king of center city development that would have given them purpose. They were built almost on the hope of "build it and they will come" philosophy or a real cities have subway/mass transit so we need to have one too.

Wait, when did they shut down the connection to Baltimore Penn Station? And why was it shut down?

1. The lightrail is former PRR and Conrail territory, 2. The light rail is actually a train not a tram hence why there is a standard gauge switch near north avenue, 3. Patapsco and a few industrial switches, Trains used to do alot of switching from Baltimore Penn, the name 4. Lightrail comes from it being able to run down the streets (That is what I was told the name ment) 5. Stations can fit a max of 4 cars in most stations, some are 3 cars max, 6. When leaving North ave The lightrail goes over the CSX Capital sub which CSX crosses over the NEC 7. The bell is alternative for the horn in most populated area, 8. When you arrived to Hamburg street that "Single" track is actually CSX capitol sub that was following under the lightrail from north ave, same with the track at westport 9.Patapsco has a large road as it leads to a highway, has multiple shopping outlets, 10.The horn is used as again mentioned before it is classified as a train, altho cromwell used to be more lively Appoligies if I said alot just wanted to help inform a bit

Can we talk about Westport? It's the FIRST stop on southbound light rail outside of downtown Baltimore, and yet, the neighborhood appears challengin. It is bounded by highway (rt 295), the light rail, and industry. But it also has access to that highway (for cars) and access to the light rail (for walkers). I believe it has access to the river? If you lived there, one could have access to downtown by light rail, to BWI by light rail, and to 295 by car. I'm curious about why there has not been more investment in the neighborhood?

Honestly, nothing best Calgarys Ctrian. 30 minutes for a train is diabolical.

You should try out buffalo NY NFTA light rail. Definitely worth making a video out of

They need to elevate the line in downtown and end all grade crossings

Love Your Channel. I Have To Say That Light Rail Is BAD!! My Hometown Columbus Ohio Just Launched ( Again ) Something That Compares To Light Rail?? Sadly Columbus Has Not Had Amtrak Since The 70s. One Of The Largest Cities In The Country?? We Are Hoping Ones Again That Could Change In The Next 10 Years. If The Republicans Take Control It Won't Happen. Sadly, Unfortunately Politics Makes The Decisions.😢 Warm Greetings From San🌴 Diego.

Light rail? Light? The rolling stock is hideously ugly and looks mighty heavy. What were they thinking?

The sarcastic commentary is difficult to get past. Excessive criticism of the host is off-putting.