A little over a year ago, freight giant CSX backed out of a long-sought plan to expand the 122-year-old Howard Street Tunnel running from the Port of Baltimore beneath the city, calling it a “business decision” not worthy of $455 million worth of public and private investments.
But last night, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin’s office announced CSX has recommitted to widening the 1.7-mile tunnel’s clearance to fit double-stacked train cars carrying cargo from the Port of Baltimore.
In a release, Maryland’s senior senator said he, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Mayor Catherine Pugh and six of the state’s eight congressional representatives met with CSX’s new CEO, Jim Foote, “to discuss a path forward on replacing the Howard Street Tunnel, which has widely been described as ‘ancient.'” (It was under Foote’s predecessor, Hunter Harrison, that CSX pulled out of the deal in November 2017. Harrison died about a month later.)
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