TheOneKEA wrote: ↑Fri Dec 11, 2020 8:54 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with this proposal. The existing plan to extend the four track segment south from WINANS to a new interlocking in Harmans is a great first step to realize this goal. Four-tracking all the way down to HANSON would also allow the outside northbound track (Track A?) to be built specifically to support the CSX freight traffic to the Pope’s Creek Sub.
The right-of-way is mostly clear, but Seabrook and Bowie State stations would need to be partially or fully rebuilt, with the pedestrian underpass at Bowie State extended or replaced outright. Odenton station would also need to be partially rebuilt. A brand new interlocking may also be needed south of the Sullivan Maintenance Facility to complement GROVE and to provide another place for trains to switch from the outer tracks to the inner tracks and vice versa. Lastly, the old kink in Track 1 north of the Patuxent River will probably need to be eliminated for good.
In the environmental filings for the four-track WINANS-to-GROVE project (BWI major rebuild), the tracks would be renumbered 1 through 4, where Track A would be 1.
As mentioned in other threads, both Seabrook and Bowie State will need partial reconstruction to move the platform over one track.
Odenton (a very busy station pre-pandemic) itself was slated for four-track service with an express platform. With a fresh eye and fresh coffee in me... I can see raising the track to the old WB&A yard/company production plants, rebuilding the northbound platform to be truly side-by-side with the southbound and express middle, adding a new tunnel between the three, and adding more parking that has an exit at Winmeyer Avenue. Close half of the existing Northbound lot, convert it into a park, plop a few MARC ticket machines at the other end of the outer platforms, and done.
BWI we already have plans for. Halethorpe is done. West Baltimore needs modifications and I'd add handicapped access via two elevators and a high-platform, since this is a major transfer point now.