Maryland transportation officials reject startup’s long shot plan to reroute Amtrak trains through new tunnel under Baltimore

Maryland transportation officials have declined a quixotic plan proposed by a startup rail company to dig a tunnel through downtown Baltimore and reroute Amtrak trains through a downtown hub that would replace the city’s Penn Station. The plan hinged on support from the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Maryland Transit Administration to halt impending construction to replace a portion of Amtrak’s aging Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel. Instead, Scott Spencer and AmeriStarRail LLC, his four-person startup company, urged the state agency to use an influx of federal infrastructure money to dig a four-track, 10-mile tunnel through Baltimore that links the Northeast Corridor to a new station downtown.