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WASHINGTON (AP) — Ulysses S. Grant was nonetheless president when staff completed the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, which linked Philadelphia and Washington by means of rail journey for the primary time.
However 150 years later, the tunnel that runs underneath a few of Baltimore’s residential neighborhoods is extra of a chokepoint than a lifeline. There’s just one monitor, and trains have to decelerate to simply 30 mph to navigate a good activate the southern finish.
It’s an issue that President Joe Biden is aware of effectively, having commuted from Delaware to Washington on Amtrak for many years whereas serving as a U.S. senator. Final week he recalled strolling the size of the tunnel, illuminated solely by lights on a string as water dripped from the roof.
“There’s an excellent fear,” he mentioned, “that a part of it may collapse.”
The tunnel is slated to be replaced with assist from the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure legislation championed by Biden, and he plans to go to on Monday to speak concerning the huge funding.
As soon as accomplished roughly a decade from now, the brand new tunnel is anticipated to have two tracks and permit trains to journey greater than 100 miles per hour. Will probably be named for Frederick Douglass, who escaped from slavery in Maryland and have become a distinguished abolitionist. The entire challenge, which incorporates associated bridges and gear modernization, may price $6 billion.
Biden plans to announce labor agreements which can be meant to clean the tunnel’s completion and guarantee good wages for union staff, in keeping with the White Home. Maryland has additionally agreed to commit $450 million for development.
No cash has but been awarded from the federal infrastructure laws. Nonetheless, the legislation signed by Biden contains $24 billion for rail enhancements alongside the northeastern hall, and as much as $4.7 billion could possibly be supplied for the Baltimore tunnel, protecting the vast majority of its price.
Gregg Weaver, 69, received to know Biden whereas working as a conductor throughout a 42-year profession with Amtrak. When he was working the morning shift on a southbound practice, typically they must maintain at Baltimore Penn Station due to hassle forward on the tunnel.
“How’s it look?” Biden would ask as he contemplated his schedule on Capitol Hill.
“The tunnel can actually complicate the entire thing,” mentioned Weaver, who retired in 2013. “It’s a bottleneck.”
As for Biden, “he rode a lot, he in all probability skilled all the things there may be to expertise,” Weaver mentioned.
Baltimore is the primary of Biden’s two journeys devoted to infrastructure this week. On Tuesday, he’ll journey to New York to speak about plans for an additional new rail tunnel, this one underneath the Hudson River.
“It’s going to chop commute instances, enhance security, make journey extra dependable,” Biden mentioned.
Roughly 200,000 individuals rode by means of the present tunnel, which was completed 113 years in the past, each workday earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic. However as a result of there’s solely two tracks, any upkeep or downside threatens to severely constrict journey.
Along with constructing a brand new tunnel, the challenge would rehabilitate the prevailing model. It was damaged by corrosive salt water that flooded in throughout Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
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