My Thoughts on the Baltimore Light RailLink... 

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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. 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 ideal for light-rail, 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. 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. In regard to Cold Spring Lane, there is a bus stop for two different routes when you exit onto Cold Spring Lane, there's a connection to the Jones Falls Trail, and students also use the station as if you walk east of the station, it serves Western High School and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. MTA tried to build "TOD" for this station with a 16-acre parcel with 284 units called "The Woodberry" but it ironically has poor connectivity to the station. 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.

Wow, if I had a nickel for every city with a rarely used light rail spur to Penn Station, I'd have 2 nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that there's two of them, right? (Pittsburgh is the other city for those wondering)

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!

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.

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

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!

@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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Baltimore's light rail link is a good tram (yes the light rail doesn't go to like from 1 section to another but ya) some light rail does have some problems like the train would only have 1 car but other than that its a good tram

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"

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.

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 Light Rail is not referred to as a tram it’s referred to as A LRV. And it doesn’t need stop request buttons because it stops at all stations even when Not In Service.

"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.

Well if you do some research when the light rail was built when Governor William Donald Schaeffer was in office. First it was rushed to be finished for the opening of Oriole Park At Camden Yards. So to have is ready to open of the grand opening of Oriole Park the did a lot of single tracking. Which later on it was found to be horrible for keeping trains on time especially if one breaks down. So instead of leaving space in the single track areas for they didn’t. Later on they added additional tracks to reduce the single track areas, but they had to move the existing track over to put the new tracks in. The light Rail originally was planned to got to Annapolis via Cromwell. So if things had went as planned the last stop at Cromwell would not be the last stop. But doing so will move many resident and business to acquire the land to build the mainline. Not including the people who would fight to not have it built or to give up their land or relocate their business for the train to be built. So we only have single tracks now between North between Gilroy road and Hunt Valley, and South between BWI Business District and BWI Airport.

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.

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.

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

The light rail was an afterthought. They build less stations, because it is one of the expensive part of any rail project. And the light rail is really supplementing for what was suppose to be a heavy rail metro. The interesting thing about this metro is that unlike most rail projects across the u.s. this one never received federal funds. And with limiting funds, you make do. Anyway, Baltimore is really lucky to have any metro at all. But if it had gotten federal funds, it would have look more and less like DC. But even DC isn't what I called a full fledge metro system. Especially if you consider the kind of system Paris and London has.

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 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

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.

Even the talking to themselves out loud loonies were missing. So dismal. I could never bring myself to ride the full lines and now thanks to your video I will never have to.

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.

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.

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).

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.

15:35 key bridge😕

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.

NIMBY is so strong in this state. There is a lutherville station that is pretty much barren as the big box stores around went bust. Dev comes in want to build an apt complex. The nimby's about 1 mile away who wouldn't even see the development are killing it (the same people who send their kidz to private school suddenly got concerned about class size). Keep in mind this is no housing for the poors, these will be $1800-2500/mo apts.

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

9:24 That’s exactly what happened. The stretch of line from North of Mt Royal to south of Warren Road used the right of way produced after the Northern Central Railroad was decommissioned after Hurricane Agnes and a bankrupted rail company.

That 4 mile stretch passes through Ruxton, a neighborhood whose residents are the sort who'd likely never debase themselves with public transit. IIRC the only way they ended up be able to build the light rail along that stretch is if there were no stops. Baltimore is rife with this kind of NIMBY behavior when it comes to public transportation, and it kinda boils down to enforcement of race and class segregation. On the bright side, Baltimore's NIMBYs also managed to prevent a couple of highways from being built through historic neighborhoods... well, the white ones anyway. The infamous "highway to nowhere" still ended up tearing up west side neighborhoods.

It’s pronounced Lin-thi-cum.. as someone that lives here and uses the light rail daily. The fare machines have only been accepting cash only while they are updating the credit side to make it more modern. The Penn-Camden Shuttle has not been running because of construction at Penn Station with upgrades and what not. The BWI bound and Cromwell bound trains usually run about 15 mins apart so they are not too close together

Did you notice how few people use the light rail? Clearly the MTA was making a commuter line, unfortunately it is in a dying city. You saw how few people are on the sidewalks, there is very little demand, people don't even use it to go to the Cromwell shopping center. Don't understand why the downtown hotels don't promote the use of the line to the airport? It's good for the stadiums as mentioned.

Even though there is a lot of graphitti in the city, I get a sense that it is organized in some way. There are certain spots where graphitti is concentrated, and others that remain untouched. And the spots that are heavily concentrated seem like their own forms of art to me. It's like the people collectively decided that *this* wall was going to be the graphitti wall in this area.And the graphitti shouldn't just be plain ol' tags on the wall. It's gotta have some artistic intent behind it. And that idea is just nice. Baltimore also has some gorgeous murals, and I've noticed the lack of graphitti on them. And when I do see it, the spray paint kind of matches the paint on that part of the mural. So it seems like the vandalizer was still respectful enough to not take away from the art. Or maybe I'm just giving them too much credit. I tend to actually like graphitti art when it's done well.

Highiron Productions mentioned rail cars containing Fleischmanns Vinegar next to the tracks in a previous post. This is more important to the line than one might think. Because regular rail cars run on the light rail tracks over night, the railroad authorities demanded light rail vehicles that are strong enough to withstand a crash with a freight train. That explains why the light rail vehicles are larger than normal. Interestingly, Fleischmanns Vinegar shut down a the end of 2023, so there are no more freight trains on the line. The factory was forced to closed because they were caught regularly polluting the Jones Falls.

I just got assaulted twice in the last 3 days by a guy on the light rail. I'm in high school. He's a grown adult.

The Light Rail was designed to access the stadium complex, so the parking lots make sense on game dates. There's not enough parking at the stadiums and the lots are expensive. Parking at the Light Rail lots is free and the fare is $2.

McCormick Spice Mill is the main reason why there is single tracking between gilroy and hunt valley. They have is the past have fought the state for trying to acquire some of their land to put in another track to hunt valley.

Cold Spring Station was made a stop as a bus connection point for east and west buses especially for Preakness Events and student attending Poly High school.

I hate clowns who cry and complain . Next time do your research on the light rails history before you make a video or any video about anything

All the stops along the that line seem like places people would want to go, so its hard to figure out what you're complaining about. If people can't park at a station, they can't use the train if they need to drive to it because it doesn't go by their house.

The ride is scary at best with the characters that ride it. Going through the city is terrible because cars do not respect the train and will block the tracks. You could spend an hour to go a mile.

Horns are used at every grade crossing is the federal law because although we have gate arms and warning light indicators to protect the train every one doesn’t stop.

Horns are used at every grade crossing is the federal law because although we have gate arms and warning light indicators to protect the train every one doesn’t stop.

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

I see you haven’t ridden VTA light rail LOL.

It’s so bad dude. You want to get down to the city on the weekends to have fun and there’s no good way to do it. It’s so dumb

The Netherlands is full of park-and-rides and are considered very useful.

Streetcar and Light Rail are Trams. Not all Trams are Streetcars. Streetcars are Trams that run on streets only.

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.

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

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

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.

Yes, I live in Baltimore. It sucks. It only stops at business locations. All it is is a way of getting people to and from the stadiums while allowing everyone to park at a few free parking lots in order to condense everyone together. That's it. I wouldn't even say that it's practical for the airport because there's no good way to get from your house to the lightrail line. I didn't even know that the Penn station line was closed. That's how long it's been since I've used it. It's a waste of money because there's no great connections to it.

It’s a light rail system and not a tram…but the question I have is, does anyone know if there is overlap between a D.C. metro stop and the Baltimore Light rail system?

I’m a light rail operator I have 25 years of service.

Better than the green line😂

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

Hello, baltimore native here and transit rider.There have been many Proposed and now recently abandoned expansions. The most recent one that has had no updates was a spur to "Baltimore Peninsula" (Port Covington) in South Baltimore. There is ROW to the area and there were some public talks about it to serve the newly built area to serve the Under Armour headquarters, new upscale condos and apartments but I haven't see anything new about it. Light Rail is long, long, long overdue for southbound (Annapolis) and new westbound (Columbia) services. Cold Spring lane was an afterthought. There is a large newly built apartment complex that could have worked in conjunction with the MTA to build a walkway a short distance to the station, bypassing the need for residents who so choose from going all the way around to get to the station. Same as the condos on the other side of the highway there. That stion is mainly used by students at the nearby Polytechnic Institute during the school year. The track you pointed out is actually the CSX line and the Howard Street Tunnel. The Camden Line travels due southwest closer the the Ravens stadium. As far as the bell is concerned. it's only supposed to be should be sounded when the train enters the station and sound twice just before leaving. The fare machines are not accepting credit due to fare machine upgrades. Don't get me started on the frequent track maintenance and bus bridges. I avoid the light rail during those times. Wait times can be over an hour long.

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

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

Out of all stops. North ave is not where to get off.

Hello Hunt Valley!! (Intro)

School students ride the light rail and subway for free

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.

The reason the stops are so far apart between Falls Road and Lutherville stations is because the neighborhoods that line the light rail track protested any stops being added to their neighborhoods. The city and suburbs are very racially segregated. This was especially true at the time the light rail was built. The white suburbs were and probably still are fearfull of city residents coming to their neighborhoods and comitting crimes. While there is a lot of anecdotal talk of higher crime because of the light rail I don't think there is any evidence base data to prove it is true. The Light Rail was pushed through by a strong willed governor who was a former mayor of Baltimore. Unfortunately he did not get the buy in from the population of residents along the former "heavy" rail tracks, that were repurposed for the new light rail, first. The whole idea was for people to park and ride to work and to Camden Yards. Camden Yards was also an idea that was forced on the city by the same Governor/former Baltimore city Mayor. Camden Yards for the most part was hailed as a success. The light rail not so much. The fact that the two meet at a fairly accessible station is no coincidence. Sadly becase of racial and economic bias suburbians do not ride the light rail with the exception of Orioles and Ravens games.

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.

The guy at 6:33👁️👄👁️🤨

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

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

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

most residents don't pay and it is not enforced

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

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

Have you ever tried the Jersey City NJ Light rail?

It’s not a tram! It’s a light rail

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

I live in DC and sometimes work in Baltimore by Camden Yards and I get out of work late so I’m unable to take the Camden Line MARC so I’d love a connection to Penn Station but it is not easy and safety is a concern.

I rode the light rail August 12th for the first time since before the pandemic from downtown to BWI Airport and back. I was disheartened by the changes that have occurred. The train seemed to be more like a homeless shelter than a form of public transportation. There were the people who wandered up and down the cars asking for a dollar, and other people selling various goods the way that they do outside of Lexington Market. Not once during my ride down to BWI airport and back did any Transit officials come through to collect fares, nor were there any Transit Police in evidence!

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

A shame, if you’d gone a few months earlier you could’ve visited Games and Stuff. They moved further down Richie Highway but it’s an awesome store.

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

Balitmore has a huge NIMBY pushback on both highways and rapid transit. The Light RailLink wasn't even suppose to exist. It was all suppose to be Metro. Thanks to the Herion/Crack Epidemic of the 1970s/1980s and shit ton of racism, a lot of people's perception of Public Transit (and baltimore as a whole) was altered into thinking these would be "Moving shooting galleries". The MetroLink got screwed hard in this process and the city's residence REFUSED to built any more Metro Lines until the concept of Light Rail took off. The Light Rail to Glen Burnie and Hunt Valley (Cockeysville) were compromises for the Metro Line whose were suppose to go there. Not to mention in order to build it cheaply, they just repurposed a few Railroad Right-of-way which why the line feels so rural and industrial.