The Maryland Transit Administration is rolling into 2026 with brand-new cars for Baltimore’s subway.
The first six of 78 new railcars are to enter service Friday on the roughly 14-mile line between Owings Mills in Baltimore County and the Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore, ushering in a new chapter for the more than 40-year-old rail line.
“Baltimore’s transit future starts here,” acting Maryland Transportation Secretary Kathryn Thomson said minutes before helping cut a gold-colored ribbon Wednesday in front of a shiny new car at the Johns Hopkins Metro station. She jokingly thanked the MTA for planning the event for her first day on the job after Gov. Wes Moore appointed her to the role last month.
The other 72 new railcars will be phased into service gradually as they complete assembly and safety inspections. The transition from the original fleet will be completed next year, MTA Administrator Holly Arnold said.
The aging subway fleet has seen mechanical issues that have plagued the subway line for years, causing delays and service cuts that have disenchanted riders.
A new fleet — and other improvements coming with it — offers the subway a chance at a renaissance, just as plans to do the same with the light rail and the bus network begin to materialize.
“Big, big plans are underway to get MTA’s transit service back on track and in position to deliver [the] world-class system this region needs,” Thomson said.
The railcars come from Hitachi Rail, the Japanese company behind that country’s famous high-speed “bullet” train network. The steel railcar shells were built in Japan, then shipped to the U.S. for final assembly in Hitachi’s new, state-of-the-art Hagerstown plant.
The new trains, which reporters and elected officials got a sneak preview of Wednesday, closely resemble the old ones — their exterior has the same shiny, steel chrome look but swaps a blue front panel for a yellow one. Inside, riders can say goodbye to the delightfully ’80’s-looking seat cushions and hello to a more basic, plastic seat that will be easier to clean.
They have larger windows, better lighting, more space for bikes and greater accessibility for people with limited mobility, improving the rider experience, Arnold said.
They “reflect the MTA’s commitment to delivering safe, reliable, proficient and modern transit for all riders,” she said.
There are even more improvements under the hood.
The new cars’ brakes harvest energy from the trains’ momentum to recycle electricity back into the system, much like some hybrid cars. They also use a brand-new train control system with better redundancy, allowing the trains to better communicate with each other, as well as the central control hub.
Riders will “absolutely notice the difference” and enjoy a “smoother ride,” said James Williams, who was honored by MTA as an exemplary subway operator last year.
The one kink in the rails Wednesday came from Federal Transit Administration Regional Administrator Terry Garcia Crews, who, amidst the applause and fanfare, “had to clarify” that the nearly $200 million of federal funds committed to the railcar purchase was a “plan … not a guarantee.”
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, uncertainty has swirled around plenty of federal funding commitments, in some cases even when the dotted line has been signed. Maryland has baked the FTA’s commitment for this purchase into its budget for years.
Once a favorite commuting option for Northeast Baltimore County residents — and a major catalyst of development in Owings Mills — the subway has experienced equipment-related service disruptions that exacerbated declining ridership figures over the years. In 2023, the year the line shut down for multiple days after a fire, it experienced more mechanical failures per mile of service than any other similar system in the United States, according to federal data.
But this overhaul will mean riders shouldn’t think twice about depending on the subway, officials said. Arnold has said it will allow the MTA to increase service to as frequent as every eight minutes during peak times.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, who fondly recalled his days taking the subway to and from school while growing up in Park Heights during his remarks Wednesday, called Baltimore’s subway map an example of “unfinished potential and intentional disinvestment.”
“We’re working to undo that legacy and counter disinvestment by being just as intentional in the way we invest in transit in our city,” Scott said.
Daniel Zawodny
Daniel.Zawodny@thebaltimorebanner.com
Daniel Zawodny covers transportation for the The Baltimore Banner as a corps member with Report For America. He is a Baltimore area native and graduated with his master's degree in journalism from American University in 2021. He is bilingual in English and Spanish and previously covered immigration issues.
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