Baltimore Metro SubwayLink
rapid transit system of Baltimore, Maryland
The Baltimore Metro SubwayLink is a rapid transit line serving Baltimore, Maryland, and its northwestern suburbs, operated by the Maryland Transit Administration. The segment in Downtown Baltimore is underground, while most of the line outside the central city is elevated or at surface grade. In 2025, the line had a ridership of 4,610,400, or about 15,000 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2026.
History
The origins of the subway lie in the Baltimore Area Mass Transportation Plan published in 1965, which envisioned six rapid transit lines radiating out from a central city loop. Planning studies from 1968 proposed a rail transit system 71 mi (114 km) long.
As the vision was translated into reality, the original concept was trimmed to a 28 mi (45 km) system in the Phase 1 plan, published in 1971. This plan involved two of the original six lines: a northwest line from Downtown Baltimore to Owings Mills and a south line to Glen Burnie and the airport. Phase 1 was approved for funding by the Maryland General Assembly in 1972. In response to lobbying by Anne Arundel County residents, the MTA eliminated the south line from Phase 1 plans in 1975; the Baltimore Light RailLink was later built over much of the planned south line corridor.
When the Baltimore Metro Subway opened on November 21, 1983, only the "Northwest" line of the 1965 plan had come to fruition.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Baltimore Metro SubwayLink” is rapid transit system of Baltimore, Maryland. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Baltimore, Metro and SubwayLink, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “rapid transit system of Baltimore, Maryland” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q805751. Authority coordinates are 39.286, -76.615. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2025, 2026, 1965 and 1968.
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This entry incorporates text from “Baltimore Metro SubwayLink” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.