A proposed Baltimore Gas and Electric transmission-line relocation has become a time-sensitive issue for Amtrak’s Frederick Douglass Tunnel project, but the public record supplied here does not yet establish what regulatory pathway applies to the Remington work or whether BGE has formally filed for approval.
WBFF reported that BGE wants to move an underground transmission line above ground on towers through Remington because the existing line occupies space needed for tunnel construction. BGE engineers told the station that an overhead route is the only feasible option, and BGE estimated the work at $28 million, compared with $224 million for an underground alternative. Those feasibility and cost claims remain BGE’s assertions as reported by WBFF. The station also reported that BGE says the underground option could delay the tunnel project by several years.
Why the timing matters
The proposed relocation is tied to a larger effort to replace Baltimore’s 1873 Baltimore & Potomac Tunnel. Amtrak says the existing tunnel is its oldest and a single point of failure for the 15 million Amtrak and MARC customers who rely on it. The Frederick Douglass Tunnel program calls for two new tubes serving electrified Amtrak and MARC trains, along with a fully accessible West Baltimore MARC station, according to Amtrak.
Amtrak says preparatory work and utility relocations are advancing toward the launch of the first of two tunnel-boring machines in 2028, giving the utility dispute a defined construction deadline. The schedule does not, by itself, establish that an underground BGE route would cause a multiyear delay; that consequence has been attributed to BGE. Amtrak’s latest program update is available at Amtrak.
A neighborhood with industrial infrastructure
Baltimore City describes Remington as an approximately 30-block historic district east of the Jones Falls, with brick rowhouses and industrial buildings. The city says industrial structures are concentrated in the district’s western section and reflect the neighborhood’s early-20th-century association with manufacturing and transportation, according to its historic-district record. That history provides place-based context, but it does not resolve whether the proposed towers would affect property values, neighborhood appearance or future development.
What remains to be decided
The Greater Remington Improvement Association opposes the overhead plan and is seeking reconsideration of an underground design. WBFF reported that the association objects to the route-selection process and says notices to residents did not identify the possibility of overhead towers. The competing positions remain unresolved: BGE says the overhead route is workable, while the association is asking for another review.
Maryland’s Public Service Commission says a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity application takes an average of 388 days to process, while an exemption averages 60 days. The commission’s information page does not establish which pathway applies to the Remington proposal. In a separate case, the PSC invited public comment on January 29, 2024, for BGE’s proposed 2.5-mile reconfiguration of an existing overhead line in southeast Baltimore County. That Dundalk proceeding involved a different project and location, but it demonstrates that public hearings have been used in at least one other BGE transmission-line case, according to the Maryland Public Service Commission. The next key facts are whether BGE has filed a formal application, what route and structures it is proposing, and what opportunities residents will have to comment.
