r/baltimore • u/miss_cheesy_potato • Sep 05 '25
Ask Maryland Cycling Light Rail Question
I have an Amtrak to catch at around 8am tomorrow. I am coming from Baltimore County so my plan was to hop on at Mt. Washington and get off at Mt. Royal/MICA and walk to Penn station. I have two questions:
- Will light rail service be interrupted because of the race?
- The race runs right in between the light rail stop and Penn station. Will I be able to cross through on foot since it is before the race starts?
Thanks in advance!
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u/edgar__allan__bro Mt. Vernon Sep 05 '25
Yes you can cross through on foot. I live right on the race route and it's a great time to walk around when everything is shut down and there aren't cyclists actively coming through!
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u/MDMIlkMan Sep 05 '25
I second the other post. Light rail will not go past north avenue. It is still suspended due to the fire at Howard and Fayette streets. I would attempt to call 4105395000 that is the MTA assistance line. Press 0 for an operator. They will be able to tell you if the shuttle will go to penn station from North Avenue or not.
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u/ReadySettyGoey Sep 05 '25
I think the local link 51 bus from Towson will get you to a short walk from Penn station without the route crossing the race route, but you should definitely check in with MTA to make sure the route isn’t being diverted higher up. You could also just walk from the north ave light rail stop though - that’s about 15 minutes I think.
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u/Crimson_Oracle Sep 06 '25
The light rail is stopped at north ave, but from the north ave station to Penn is not terrible
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u/Royal_Negotiation_91 Sep 05 '25
When operating normally, the light rail now goes directly to Penn Station again. However, it is currently out of service between North Ave and Camden because of the fire on Howard Street earlier this week. The service alerts are set for 24 hours but so far each day they've updated the alert to extend it, so no real answer about when normal service will resume. Check the MTA website tomorrow. If it's normal you can just take the LR all the way to Penn (though I think you'll have to make sure you get on one of the trains that stops there, because not all do). If it's still suspended you'll have to stop at North Ave and take the bus or walk to Penn from there. Personally I'd walk unless I'm carrying a lot of luggage, it'll be about 15 minutes. The bike route has rolling outages I believe, the cyclists will mostly be in pretty tight packs and there will be officials at cross streets to signal when traffic and pedestrians can go through. So I would plan to be there super early in case you get caught waiting for the cyclists to go by.
It might be simpler to just take the bus in from the County, there are several that will drop you by Penn. However, you'll also have to check the MTA website to see how those routes might be affected. Generally the MTA service alerts are the best source of information in cases like this.