Red Line (Baltimore)

Red Line
Overview
Type	Light rail
System	Maryland Transit Administration
Status	Canceled by Gov. Larry Hogan in June 2015
Locale	Baltimore, Maryland
Termini	Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services, Woodlawn, Baltimore County (West) Johns Hopkins Bayview Campus, Baltimore City (East)
Stations	19 (planned)
Daily ridership	54,000 (2030 projection)
Operation
Planned opening	after 2022; 5 years' time (2022)
Operator(s)	Maryland Transit Administration
Technical
Line length	14.1 mi (22.7 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	750 V DC overhead
Operating speed	Average 18 mph
Route map Locally preferred alternative Center for Medicare/ Medicaid Services Security Square Mall I-695 Woodlawn Drive Social Security Administration I-70 Park and Ride Cooks Lane tunnel Edmondson Village Allendale Street Rosemont West Baltimore Penn Line Harlem Park Poppleton University Center Blue Line Charles Center Green Line Inner Harbor Harbor East Fells Point Canton Canton Crossing Highlandtown/Greektown I-895 Bayview Penn Line Bayview Campus This diagram:

The Red Line was a planned east-west mass transit light rail line for Baltimore, Maryland. Although it had been granted federal approval to enter the preliminary engineering phase, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared on June 25, 2015 that he would not provide state funds for the project. The line's construction had been estimated to begin in late 2015–early 2016, subject to funding, with a completion date set for late 2021–early 2022.

As of January 2017, the Red Line is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation for its cancellation being in possible violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

While the project currently remains inactive since Hogan's decision to cancel it, the future of the project has become a platform issue for the 2018 Maryland gubernatorial election. As of July 2017, all candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Hogan have pledged to revive the Red Line.

In 2001, then-Secretary of Transportation John Porcari appointed a 23-member independent commission, the Baltimore Region Rail System Plan Advisory Committee, to make suggestions for new rail lines and expansions of existing lines. The proposals used a unified branding scheme for the existing lines and the proposed new lines, identifying each line by a color, as the Washington Metro and many other transit agencies do.

The suggested system was composed of six color-coded lines with an overall length of 109 miles (175 km) and 122 stations, including Baltimore's existing Metro Subway and Light Rail lines. In the commission's report, the Red Line was an east-west line that would begin at the Social Security Administration offices in Woodlawn in Baltimore County, travel through West Baltimore with an intermodal stop at the West Baltimore MARC station, pass through downtown where it would intersect the existing Metro Subway and Light Rail lines, and pass through East Baltimore with stops in the gentrified neighborhoods of Fells Point, Canton, and the area around Patterson Park. The Red Line was designated by the commission as the starting component for new work on the 6-line system.