Delaware

Passenger Rail Projects

Delmarva Intercity Passenger Rail Study

Northeast Rail Corridor

"[The study] marks the beginning of making downstate rail a reality.  It will allow Delawareans to get to jobs, visit family and go on vacation without wasting time and gas in highway congestion…This project will provide economic development and help protect the environment." -- U.S. Senator Tom Carper and former U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman, News Journal, January 28, 2010.

Funding: $450,000 from the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act. The Delaware Department of Transportation/Delaware Transit Corporation will provide $405,000 match; Maryland Department of Transportation will provide $45,000 match for a total program of $900,000.

Delaware and Maryland are studying a plan to provide new passenger rail to connect the Northeast corridor with coastal communities from Lewes, Delaware, to Ocean City, Maryland, a critical tourism area. Planning work is expected to begin in February 2011 on two phases:  the first to develop a service plan based on potential ridership and estimated capital and operating costs for intercity passenger rail service. The second phase will include an environmental analysis, preliminary design, and engineering cost estimates, which will prepare the projection for a decision to proceed into preliminary engineering. The work is expected to be completed by December 2012.

Railroads working with the states: Amtrak, Norfolk Southern Railway, Maryland & Delaware Railroad.

More information at: http://www.dartfirststate.com/