by Trish Rudder
Bath Town Recorder, Susan Webster said she attended the Town of Hancock’s council meeting recently where that council approved expanding the MARC train to include Martinsburg to Hancock, WV.
Webster told the Bath Town Council on February 21 that the Maryland Legislature in Annapolis is moving forward.
“We need to get the word out that travel from Martinsburg to Hancock West Virginia is important to tourism,” Webster said.
Webster said last week that the “issue will have to be introduced again” to West Virginal Governor Jim Justice and the legislature, “especially our local representatives,” she said.
She said that funding from the state would be necessary to help Maryland since the travel from Martinsburg to Hancock is in West Virginia.
She said people can support the expansion by taking the survey that appeared in The Hancock News.
According to the article in The Hancock News, “ [T]here are four independent rail alignments being explored. One is Hancock/Cumberland, with three round trip trains that serve Martinsburg being extended 23 miles west to Hancock along the CSX line….”
The MTA survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BrunswickLine. The public can contact the MTA with comments at Brunswick@mdot.maryland.gov or writing to Office of Planning and Capital Programming, Maryland Transit Administration, 6 Saint Paul Street 9th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202l.
