Karl Baker

The News Journal

A longtime proposal to run commuter trains between Newark and Perryville, Maryland, took a step forward this week after transportation planners submitted preliminary results of a feasibility study to officials in Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

It is the first formal examination looking into demand for increased rail transit across the Delaware-Maryland state line, said Dave Gula, planner at the Wilmington Area Planning Council. Results will be made public after officials from DART, Maryland's commuter rail agency MARC and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority have a chance to meet, likely next month, he said.

The study "was just released to [transit officials], and we’re going to meet mid- to late March to sit down and talk about what the next steps will be,” Gula said.

Officials from DART and MARC last met during the summer of 2016 to discuss the leading commuter rail option, which involves extending Maryland trains from their current terminus in Perryville north to Newark. Those train arrivals could align with northbound departures of Philadelphia-bound SEPTA trains.

“Having MARC meet SEPTA in Newark … we think it’s a slam dunk,” Gula said. “At the moment, you have very few choices from Newark, how to get down to Baltimore.”

Extending SEPTA south into Maryland, however, is also a possibility, Gula said.

The 20-mile stretch of track between Perryville and Newark is the only segment of the Northeast Corridor between Washington and New York City that lacks commuter rail service.

Previous WILMAPCO studies have shown that residents in northern Delaware want commuter rail service to extend south of Newark, Gula said. Roughly one-third of vehicles parked at the Perryville station daily, for example, have a Delaware license plate, he said.

The latest study puts officials from Maryland and Delaware in line to formally plan for train service that could begin in three years, Gula said. A bistate plan also would set the project up to receive federal transportation grants, he said.

“What I would like to see come out of this is the two states sign an agreement," he said. "So it’s no longer something that is pushed by local politicians.”

With a growing University of Delaware STAR campus near the Newark station and a steady supply of military jobs at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, demand should stay robust, he said. Maryland and Delaware officials also have considered added express bus service between Aberdeen and Newark, he said.

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Financing any new train service, however, is a looming hurdle as Delaware is likely to face deficits in upcoming years, similar to its current $350 million budget gap. John Sisson, chief executive officer of DART, said he has not yet discussed a cost-sharing agreement with Maryland officials.

“I don’t see Delaware paying for the service from Perryville north,” he said. “Maryland will also need to determine if they would build a station in Elkton,” Maryland.

DART could then finance trains traveling beyond Elkton, similar to how it pays SEPTA about $250,000 annually for each round-trip train that extends south of Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania.

Elkton-area politicians historically have been the loudest proponents of extending MARC trains, Gula said.

If plans come together smoothly and financing is ironed out, the earliest possible date for a commuter train extension south of Newark would be 2020, one year after a renovation to the Newark train station is complete, Gula said.

“The new station will have two platform edges … so technically you could have SEPTA and MARC at the station at the same time with a cross-platform transfer,” he said.

Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.

Editors note: An earlier version incorrectly stated segments along the Northeast Corridor that lack commuter rail service. This version has been corrected. An earlier version also misrepresented statements from DART CEO John Sisson. This version has been corrected.