Baltimore Penn Station

Baltimore Penn Station Baltimore, MD
Baltimore Penn Station in January 2009
General information
Location	1500 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland United States
Coordinates	39°18′27″N 76°36′56″W / 39.30750°N 76.61556°W / 39.30750; -76.61556
Owned by	Amtrak
Line(s)	Amtrak Northeast Corridor
Platforms	3 island platforms (MARC and Amtrak) 1 side platform (Light RailLink)
Tracks	8 (MARC and Amtrak) 1 (Light RailLink)
Connections	MTA BaltimoreLink: Green, Silver, 51, 95, 103[1] Charm City Circulator: Purple Johns Hopkins Shuttle Baltimore Collegetown Shuttle Jones Falls Trail
Construction
Parking	550 spaces[2]
Accessible	Yes[2]
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: BAL
IATA code	ZBP
History
Opened	1911 (1911)
Rebuilt	1984
Electrified	1935[3][4]
Previous names	Baltimore Union Station
Passengers
FY 2023	1,081,133 [5] (Amtrak only)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station BWI Airport toward Washington, D.C. Acela Wilmington toward Boston South Vermonter Wilmington toward St. Albans Washington, D.C. toward Chicago Cardinal Wilmington toward New York Washington, D.C. toward Charlotte Carolinian BWI Airport One-way operation Crescent BWI Airport toward Savannah Palmetto Washington, D.C. toward Miami Silver Meteor Silver Star BWI Airport toward Norfolk, Newport News or Roanoke Northeast Regional Aberdeen toward Boston South or Springfield Preceding station MARC Following station West Baltimore towards Union Station Penn Line Martin State Airport towards Perryville Preceding station Maryland Transit Administration Following station Mt. Royal/MICA toward Camden Yards Light RailLink Penn–Camden Shuttle Terminus
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Edmondson toward Washington, D.C. Chesapeake Edgewood toward Philadelphia–Suburban New Carrollton toward Tri-State Hilltopper Aberdeen toward Boston South BWI Airport toward Washington, D.C. Metroliner Wilmington toward New York New Carrollton toward Washington, D.C. Montrealer Wilmington toward Montreal Capital Beltway toward Washington, D.C. Harrisburg toward Kansas City National Limited Capital Beltway toward Washington, D.C. Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station Edmondson Avenue toward Washington, D.C. Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Biddle Street toward Philadelphia President Street toward Calvert Street Woodberry toward Harrisburg Northern Central Railway Baltimore Division Calvert Street Terminus Preceding station Western Maryland Railway Following station Baltimore Walbrook toward Cumberland Main Line Baltimore Hillen Terminus
Pennsylvania Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Baltimore City Landmark
Area	1.9 acres (0.8 ha)
Built	1911
Architect	McKim, Mead & White; Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison
Architectural style	Beaux-Arts
NRHP reference No.	75002097[6]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 12, 1975
Designated BCL	1975

Baltimore Penn Station, formally named Baltimore Pennsylvania Station in full, is the main inter-city passenger rail hub in Baltimore, Maryland. Designed by New York City architect Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison (1872–1938), it was constructed in 1911 in the Beaux-Arts style of architecture for the Pennsylvania Railroad. It is located at 1515 N. Charles Street, about a mile and a half north of downtown and the Inner Harbor, between the Mount Vernon neighborhood to the south, and Station North to the north. Originally called Union Station because it served the Pennsylvania Railroad and Western Maryland Railway, it was renamed to match other Pennsylvania Stations in 1928.^[7]

The building sits on a raised "island" of sorts between two open trenches, one for the Jones Falls Expressway and the other the tracks of the Northeast Corridor (NEC). The NEC approaches from the south through the two-track, 7,660-foot (2,334.77-meter) Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, which opened in 1873 and whose 30 mph (48 km/h) speed limit, sharp curves, and steep grades make it one of the NEC's worst bottlenecks. The NEC's northern approach is the 1873 Union Tunnel, which has one single-track bore and one double-track bore.

Penn Station is the eighth-busiest Amtrak rail station in the United States by number of passengers served each year.^[8]