Quote:
Originally Posted by cpterp
MARC is extending their Penn Line within the next few years to connect to the R2 at Newark (with a stop at Elkton) so commuters won't have to take Amtrak from MD/DC to Philly/Wilmington. I've actually heard of people commuting from Philadelphia to DC, and a lot of Delaware->DC commuters.
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People who live in Cecil County, MD don't take Amtrak to commute to Philadelphia (in part because backtracking to Aberdeen makes no sense); they drive to Newark or another Delaware rail station and take SEPTA. If you are talking about people using MARC and SEPTA in a way similar to how SEPTA and NJT are used near Trenton, I think the commute time would be too long for most people to want to use MARC/SEPTA in place of Amtrak for regular Baltimore/Washington-Philadelphia commuting trips. Also, MARC would probably operate very few trains heading east from Baltimore in the morning; that would be in the opposite direction of their peak passenger volumes.
The Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization (WILMAPCO), which covers Cecil County (and obviously New Castle County, DE), did a study a few years ago examining commuter rail possibilities for Cecil County. I strongly suspect that if rail service was provided in Elkton, they'd want both SEPTA R2 and MARC Penn Line service, especially the former. (Cecil County/Elkton is classified as part of the Philadelphia metro area because of commuting patterns remember.) Having Penn Line service that can connect with SEPTA service in Newark, DE ala NJ Transit and SEPTA service in Trenton doesn't really solve the problem because a 2 seat ride is less convenient and takes longer than a 1 seat ride. The question would be whether the state of Maryland would be willing to provide funding that is NOT going to MTA for service that would primarily benefit (i.e. provide tax base through jobs) Delaware and Pennsylvania.
For whatever it is worth, in addition to a decent number of people doing a Wilimington-Washington commute (which I have little doubt is true), I believe there are a decent number of people in Harford County, MD who do an Aberdeen/Havre de Grace/Bel Air-Philadelphia commute, in addition to the larger number of people in that area who do a Baltimore or Washington commute. The bottom line is there are a lot of people who live along the I-95/Amtrak Northeast Corridor between the south Washington suburbs and north Boston suburbs, and in smaller cities and towns located between the bigger cities, you have a lot of people heading in opposite directions to work in the big cities on both sides of the smaller cities/towns.
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