Elected officials, union leaders, contractors and others gathered at the former Mount Royal Station Friday, where CSX announced the reopening of the Howard Street Tunnel ahead of schedule.
“You're going to see magic happen,” said Joe Hinrichs, President & CEO of CSX from the podium.” Actually, I'm going to say 1-2-3,’ and then we're all going to say, ‘Move that train,’ together.”
As he counted down, the engine fired up and a band from Dunbar High School marched in, shortly after the train horn blew and it began moving down the track.
The company marked the occasion by modeling how the expanded tunnel — tall enough for double-stacked freight trains — would move cargo along the East Coast and into the Midwest “faster, more efficiently, safely and farther, ” said Mark Schmidt, President of Ports America Chesapeake which operates the Seagirt Marine Terminal at the Port of Baltimore.
Schmidt noted that before the expansion, the tunnel was a chokepoint, slowing freight movement.
A CSX spokesperson confirmed that double-stacked freight will eventually travel through the entire I-95 corridor, as more sections are raised or lowered next year.
The $450 million project was funded by CSX, the state, local governments and $125 million in federal support. Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said the effort has spanned multiple administrations dating back to the 1980s.
Originally built in the 1890’s the tunnel suffered a fiery derailment in 2001. It’s now expected to reduce truck traffic on I-95, lower emissions and bring thousands of containers — and jobs — to the Port.
About 200 contractors and sub contractors put in more than 450,000+ labor hours to expand the tunnel.
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