Some of the earliest years of American railroading can be traced to the City of Baltimore with the founding of the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad. Until 1884, the B&O railroad leased a railroad track through Baltimore to connect its eastern and western routes. In 1884, a competitor purchased the track, leaving the B&O with no way to get its trains through Baltimore. In an effort to salvage rail business through the city, the B&O worked with a contractor to construct a tunnel through the city from the Camden Station area north to the Mount Royal Station in the heart of Baltimore. The construction of the tunnel, formally called the Baltimore Belt Line, began in September in 1890 and was completed in May of 1895. Railroad historians believe the tunnel was the most expensive tunnel project of its time. The cost eventually drove the line into receivership in 1896.
A monument to railroad engineering of a hundred years ago, approximately thirty million bricks were required to build a rounded tunnel with a single track that rose at a steep grade–4.8 percent. The one-track line was originally 1.4 miles in length; an extension of three tenths of a mile was completed in the 1980s to accommodate parking for the major league baseball stadium and light rail construction. The depth of the tunnel varies from its shallowest at 3 feet to its deepest at 60 feet. The 4.8 percent grade accounts for a height difference of approximately 330 feet from the entrance to the exit at Mount Royal Station. The rail tunnel runs underground through such downtown landmarks as the Baltimore Arena, Maryland General Hospital, and antique shops along Howard Street. In 1958 the B&O railroad discontinued passenger service through the Howard Street Tunnel.
The tunnel remained little used for several decades. Today however, it is the longest active underground train route on the East Coast. According to a CSX Transportation representative, approximately 40 freight trains per day pass through the tunnel. Currently, the tunnel, rarely seen by residents, facilitates the passage of tons of freight, everything from orange juice to automobiles, fine goods, and coal. In September of 1987, the B&O railroad merged with and became CSX Transportation. In June of 1999 CSX transportation began operating a new rail network to include Conrail.
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