History -- A Single Track Freight Train on a Narrow Berm
Before the Capital Crescent Trail , a single-tracked freight train ran atop a 12’ wide berm in the narrow Georgetown Branch right-of-way, once a day.
In contrast, the Purple Line would have both a trail and two sets of tracks with trains passing in both directions every three minutes in this narrow corridor.
FROM RAILS TO TRAILS
Until 1985, a coal-bearing freight train ran once a day, at about 15 mph, on a single track running along a narrow 12’-wide berm on the old B&O Railroad right-of-way between Silver Spring and Georgetown.
When CSX abandoned the railroad in 1985, a unique opportunity presented itself, and environmental, recreation and neighborhood groups began working to turn this right-of-way into a multi-use Trail.
In 1988, Trail supporters convinced the Montgomery County Council to purchase the Maryland portion of the corridor under the Rails to Trails Act, with a compromise deal that called for constructing a combined single track “trolley” or scenic railroad and a recreational trail between Bethesda and Silver Spring.
In 1989, Congress and the National Park Service worked out an arrangement (with the help of a philanthropist) to secure title to the portion of the B&O right of way in the District of Columbia. The seven-mile section of the Capital Crescent Trail from Georgetown to Bethesda was built and formally dedicated in December, 1996 -- an paved trail with NO rail alongside it.
Subsequently, the single railroad track between Bethesda and Silver Spring was taken up and a gravel “interim trail” was constructed.
But additional obstacles needed to be overcome for the Trail. Those who wanted a Purple Line along the Trail opposed opening the the old railroad Tunnel under Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda, and they opposed re-building the Trestle over Rock Creek Park.
However, successful Petition drives led the Montgomery County Council to eventually open the Tunnel and to re-build the Trestle. Once these connections were completed (with financial contributions from the Greater Bethesda Chevy Chase Coalition and the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail), the Trail was safely connected from Georgetown through downtown Bethesda, across Rock Creek Park and into west Silver Spring.
Today, however, the Trail between Bethesda and Silver Spring remains in the hands of the Montgomery County Transportation Department -- not the Parks Department.
MTA’s transit plans have expanded from the single-tracked trolley alongside the Trail in the narrow right-of-way to a proposal for a double-tracked, light rail Purple Line between Bethesda and New Carrolton. (The County’s Master Plan, however, has yet to be amended to allow for two sets of tracks and a trail within this narrow space.)
Overwhelmingly, Trail supporters would like the natural Capital Crescent Trail preserved as a beautiful park -- all the way from from Washington DC to Silver Spring
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. History of the Georgetown Branch, Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail Website. 6/20/08.
. A Draft EIS for single tracking was completed by MTA in 1996; subsequently the plan died.
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