More than 150-years old, the B&P Tunnel dates back to the Civil War era. It is also the largest bottleneck on the Northeast Corridor between Washington, DC and New Jersey.

The Baltimore & Potomac (B&P) Tunnel is the oldest Amtrak tunnel and a single point of failure for the 9 million MARC and Amtrak customers who rely on it. The 1.4-mile tunnel, connecting Baltimore’s Penn Station to Washington D.C. and Virginia, suffers from a variety of age-related issues such as excessive water infiltration, a deteriorating structure, and a sinking floor. The existing tunnel cannot be updated with modern fire and life safety systems and excessive costly maintenance is required. The tunnel is at capacity, and the tunnel’s tight curvature requires trains to reduce speeds to 30 mph. These issues create chronic delays — more than 10% of weekday trains are delayed, and delays occur on 99% of weekdays.

Without the roughly $6 billion replacement, these issues will persist, and the risk to Northeast Corridor operations will grow. A tunnel replacement program has already completed its environmental (NEPA) review, and preliminary work began in 2023. Pre-award authority has been given by the Federal Railroad Administration for major construction contracts to be awarded. Funding will be a combination of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding and Maryland and internal program revenue.

The Frederick Douglass Tunnel Program is already reaching major milestones in 2024.

• In February 2024, Amtrak awarded a contract to Kiewit/J.F. Shea Joint Venture to build the brand new, state-of-the-art passenger rail tunnel that will serve electrified Amtrak and MARC commuter trains.
• In April 2024, Amtrak awarded its first-ever “Delivery Partner” contract, an innovative construction management approach to help drive successful execution of the project. In a Delivery Partner model, the private partner shares in Amtrak’s risk to deliver the program and is incentivized to help Amtrak achieve overall program outcomes. The Delivery Partner's responsibilities include design oversight, construction management, contract management, and other administrative support tasks.

Major construction is slated to begin later this year, including utility relocations and work for the first of five bridges. Throughout tunnel construction, Amtrak will continue to keep the community informed and updated, perform real-time monitoring and undertake other industry-leading activities to protect adjacent properties.