ST. MARY’S TODAY

ANNAPOLIS --- State Senator Roy Dyson (D. St. Mary’s, Calvert, Charles) filed a bill in this session of the General Assembly setting up a blue ribbon panel for commuter rail, coming on the heels of legislation he passed on preserving the old Navy railroad right of way for future commuter rail use between the CSX railroad line which links Southern Maryland with the Washington area and the Patuxent River Naval Air Station.

"This region is Maryland’s fastest growing area and our roads sure show it," said Sen. Dyson. "We have had so much increase in traffic that roads which were built to last us for another 20 years are already congested and out of date with intersections on the newly reconstructed Rt. 235 leading to Pax River already in a state of failure."

Dyson has criticized the Governor for failing to address the Hughesville bypass funding issue, a bottleneck for traffic which consumes every vehicle traveling between St. Mary’s and Waldorf.

Dyson’s bill establishing the feasibility study passed the General Assembly four years ago, but $1.6 million in funding to maintain the right of way for future commuter rail use was not appropriated.

The study which was conducted by the Maryland Department of Transportation called for St. Mary’s County to cease granting easements across the right of way to builders and developers as the future cost of requiring those easements would add to the eventual cost of establishing rail service once again to Pax River. Those needing access across the county right of way would be responsible for making other arrangements once rail service cut them off from their access.

For years, successive St. Mary’s Boards of Commissioners, shortchanged the county by allowing hundreds of easements across the right of way which the Federal government turned over to the county as excess property in 1973.

The first thing the county did was to sell the old railroad ties and rails for scrap and without the rails and ties in place, the bed became a backroad freeway for local criminals who burglarized businesses and for those riding dirt bikes.

A recent plan to provide for a bike and horse trail along the right of way brought out dozens of angry neighbors who said that they wouldn’t mind if trains were once again on the former rail line but didn’t want access for those on foot to bisect their properties, in many cases, coming close to their homes.

The rail line leads from Lexington Park to Hughesville and then on to the CSX line near Gallant Green.

Trains ran on the line up through the late sixties after having been taken over by the Navy at the start of WWII. The Navy finished the line from Mechanicsville where it had ended after a series of owners built it since the late 1800’s.

Dyson, Del. John Bohanan (D. Lexington Park) and St. Mary’s Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R. Golden Beach) met with Maryland Comptroller William Donald Schaefer in Annapolis last January to plan initial strategies for establishing commuter rail service over existing CSX lines in Southern Maryland. Last September, Dean Kenderline, Schaefer’s Chief of Staff, and Del. Bohanan met with CSX Vice President J. Randall Evans and a team of CSX officials to outline what CSX would require for use of their tracks on lines to Aquasco and Morgantown.

The CSX officials said that they would cooperate with Maryland leader’s intent to use the existing rail lines for commuters but would require the state to indemnify them and to double track the lines so freight trains could run unimpeded by passenger use.

CSX said that it was their experience where they share trackage with commuter trains, that once commuter trains began service they grew in popularity and more trains end up running and thereby impact their business.

Maryland recently added commuter rail service over CSX lines from Frederick to Point of Rocks. Maryland MARC trains run into West Virginia and end up in Washington, D. C. MARC also runs lines from Baltimore while Virginia’s VRE has soared in popularity. Amtrak trains and the Washington METRO trains also provide rail service to Washington while Southern Maryland has had a growing number of commuter buses.