Frederick Douglass Tunnel

Stacy Witbeck is in the beginning stages of a massive reconstruction of the Frederick Douglass Tunnel in Baltimore, Maryland. The scope of the project requires close collaboration with many parties, including Amtrak and our JV partners. Coordination with the many utility companies with a footprint in the tunnel has already been underway, allowing relocations to start taking place.

Built over 150 years ago, the tunnel is the oldest in Amtrak’s system. Connecting Baltimore’s Penn Station to Washington D.C., it’s located in the bustling Northeast Corridor with around 130 trains passing through a day at speeds of up to 125 miles per hour. Due to the age of the tunnel and its tight curvature, trains currently passing through the tunnel must reduce speeds to 30 miles per hour, creating a significant bottleneck in the most used passenger rail corridor of the country.

The project will smooth and widen the curvature of the tunnel to alleviate these issues. Doing so will also allow modern fire and life safety systems to be updated without the need for excessive and costly maintenance. While the exact track and systems construction responsibilities are still being finalized, the track scope includes 13 miles of track, seven crossovers, and the OCS/TP scope includes the replacement of three route miles of four-track catenary which also accommodates 138kV transmission lines and signal power.