Delegates from Harford and Cecil counties want to extend MARC commuter rail service as far as Delaware in the next five years, even as Maryland Department of Transportation officials say the system has reached its limit.
A bill co-sponsored by Harford Democrats Mary-Dulaney James and B. Daniel Riley, along with four other delegates representing Cecil County, requires that the Maryland Transit Administration negotiate with Amtrak to expand its MARC service to Elkton, North East and eventually Wilmington by 2012, with increased service to Edgewood, Aberdeen and Elkton by 2008. The House Environmental Matters Committee will hear the bill today at 1 p.m.
The system currently goes only as far east as Perryville, just across the Susquehanna River from Havre de Grace.
However, the system?s top planning official said MARC will need upgrades to its equipment storage and maintenance facilities before it can be increased or extended.
“MARC service is basically maxed out at the moment,” said Sam Minnitte, MDOT?s director of planning.
The department is already in negotiations with planners in Wilmington to expand service there and is conducting feasibility studies for train storage and maintenance shops in Harford County, he said.
Increasing transit options to the north and east is becoming important as the Base Realignment and Closure process brings more jobs to Harford County and Aberdeen Proving Ground.
A survey of workers whose jobs would relocate from Fort Monmouth, N.J., showed as many as 20 percent of those who were definitely relocating were going to live in Delaware and Pennsylvania. Another 18 percent of those who were still uncertain about moving were considering either of those two states.
Kevin Racine, vice president of the Transit Riders Action Council, said he supported efforts to expand mass transit, but was worried that a lack of funding would lead to cuts in existing bus services.
MTA officials would not comment on the bill prior to its hearing.
