Maryland Gov. Wes Moore joined elected leaders and other officials to celebrate the start of double-stack rail service at the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore.
The ribbon cutting for the Howard Street Tunnel at the Port signified the completion of the $495 million project that officials said will grow the Port’s container business, generate thousands of jobs and provide economic benefit to the region.
“This is a transformative day for the Port of Baltimore and for Maryland,” Moore said. “Thanks to our public-private partnership, we have opened doors to shipping up and down the Northeast, increasing our shipping capacity at the Port, creating thousands of new jobs and generating about $1 billion annually in economic benefits for Marylanders, — all while reducing emissions and benefitting the environment.”
Prior to the project, height restrictions within the tunnel and at other locations prevented shipment of double-stacked containers by rail to and from the Port and up and down the East Coast. The Howard Street Tunnel project expanded the 131-year-old Baltimore freight tunnel by 18 inches and made other clearance improvements at 21 other locations in Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania that will allow double-stacked container trains to travel to and from the Port of Baltimore, and provide the East Coast with seamless double-stack capacity from Massachusetts to Florida, officials said.
The cost of the project totaled $495 million, well under the projected $566 million. The project was paid for by an investment of $217 million from the State of Maryland, and was constructed through a public-private partnership between the state, the Federal Railroad Administration, and CSX.