Port of Baltimore gets $15.6M to improve rail infrastructure

The Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore will receive $15.6 million from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Consolidated Rail and Infrastructure Safety Improvements (CRISI) program for its Rail Capacity Modernization Project, port officials announced Wednesday.

The Project will reconstruct and update the Seagirt Marine Terminal’s intermodal rail yard infrastructure and support increased demand for double stacked trains of containerized cargo to markets across the country.

The FRA CRISI Project will build four new rail tracks totaling 17,670 track feet and two crane rail beams totaling 7,000 linear feet within the Seagirt Terminal.  Seagirt’s intermodal container yard allows for the easy transfer of shipping containers by truck or rail.  The FRA grant includes a $6.7 million match from Ports America Chesapeake (PAC), the Maryland Port Administration’s public-private partner at the Seagirt Terminal.

In addition to providing more seamless and efficient rail operations, the CRISI Project will also add environmental benefits.  Air quality around the Port will be improved by increasing rail usage and from the conversion of the existing diesel-fueled rail yard operation to electrified equipment.  Additional rail usage will also help alleviate ongoing logistical bottlenecks on major interstate highways.

Supplementing the FRA CRISI Project is the CSX-Howard Street Tunnel expansion project which will allow for double-stacked container rail cars, clearing a longtime hurdle for the Port and giving the East Coast seamless double-stack capacity from Maine to Florida. The project involves clearance improvements in the 127-year-old tunnel and at 21 other locations between Baltimore and Philadelphia. With the tunnel expansion project, Baltimore will be able to send double stacked containers by rail into the Ohio Valley and onto Chicago.

Groundbreaking on the project occurred in November 2021 and the project is scheduled to be completed in 2025.   The Howard Street Tunnel project benefits from public-private investment from the federal government, Maryland, CSX, and others, and is expected to increase the Port’s business by about 160,000 containers annually. It will also generate about 6,550 construction jobs and an additional 7,300 jobs from the increased business.