$125 million Baltimore tunnel grant opens double stack option for rail shippers

East Coast rail shippers stymied by the lack of double stack rail container option on a 125-year-old tunnel underneath Baltimore may be seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

A $125 million federal grant issued by the Transportation Department under its Infrastructure of Rebuilding America Grant Program (INFRA) has reopened shippers’ long-held dream of allowing doublestack service on a major rail line operated by CSX Transportation.

The $125 million is the good news. The bad news is the tunnel project is estimated to cost $466 million. Considering Maryland already had agreed to contribute $147 million and CSX $91 million, that leaves a shortfall of $103 million.   

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has vowed to come up with the additional $103 million. Double stacking CSX would greatly aid the Port of Baltimore, which is estimated to generate more than $3 billion in personal income and nearly $400 million in Maryland and local taxes.

The shortfall probably will include other funding sources. Ports America Chesapeake, which operates Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore, a new intermodal port facility called Tradepoint Atlantic and other maritime business entities are expected to add to the funding, according to maritime sources.

The Howard Street Tunnel was built by hand by 2,400 laborers from 1890 to 1895 by the old B&O Railroad. The Baltimore tunnel is so old it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places – and is still in use 24 hours a day.

But the original 21-foot height of the tunnel is about 18 inches too low to accommodate double stacking of high cube containers (each 9.5 feet high) and a well car. That limits the number of 58,000-pound containers that can be shipped by rail.

As it stands now, the tunnel’s restrictions mean there are only two rail options out of Baltimore for cargo unloaded at the port. Single rail cars can move west and south under the Baltimore tunnel. Or they can go north on CSX tracks to Albany, N.Y.

But without doublestacking ability, neither of those options is economically viable for CSX. So instead of efficient, long-haul doublestack rail, many shippers get their single containers are placed on intermodal chassis and hauled via truck for short haul over the road moves—at much higher rates.

In an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun, maritime attorney James R. Jeffcoat of Gorman and Williams law firm noted that Baltimore has many structural and inherent advantages as a port—less congestion than New York and New Jersey and a more strategically inland location than Norfolk, for example.

Recent dredging of the port has enabled the Port of Baltimore to accommodate the new, larger “Panamax” cargo ships going through the recently enlarged Panama Canal.

But until the tunnel bottleneck is solved and doublestacking of containers is allowed, the Port of Baltimore will remain at an operational disadvantage, maritime experts say.

“We’re going to find a way to make it happen,” Maryland Gov. Hogan said of the funding dilemma. “The journey’s not over yet.”

Besides the Maryland railroad tunnel, the other nine large infrastructure projects identified by DOT with various grants were:

Alabama will be awarded $125 million to construct a new six-lane cable-stayed bridge with more than 215 feet of vertical clearance to carry I-10 across the Mobile River channel. The project will take place near Mobile, AL.

Arizona will be awarded $90 million to add capacity on a rural, mountainous stretch of I-17 north of Phoenix.

In California, the city of Temecula will be awarded $50 million to construct a two-lane northbound collector/distributor system along I-15.

Space Florida will be awarded $90 million to replace the Cape Canaveral Spaceport Indian River Bridge with new twin high-level bridges. This project will occur near Orlando, Fla.

Maine will be awarded $36 million in grant funding to replace the Madawaska International Bridge, a US-Canada border crossing bridge over the Saint John River. This project will take place in Presque Isle, Maine.

Missouri will be awarded $81.2 million in INFRA funds to complete two critical upgrades along I-70. This is a project that will take place near both Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.

Mississippi will be awarded $52.4 million to complete the Appalachian Development Highway System within the state. This project will take place near the towns of Columbus, Tupelo, West Point, and Houston, Mississippi.

Oregon will be awarded $60.4 million to make a series of improvements to roadways on the north side of Bend

In Rhode Island, its DOT will be awarded $60.355 million to rebuild the Providence I-95 Northbound Viaduct.

There were also 10 smaller DOT projects announced.