PERHAPS it was just coincidence that a water main broke, knocking out electricity, just as firefighters and emergency crews were trying to contain the smoky fire from a derailed train carrying toxic cargo downtown.
But that series of calamities downtown Wednesday underscores how vulnerable Baltimore is to calamity, given its decrepit infrastructure.
As long as disasters don't happen, we don't seem to be bothered by leaky wooden water pipes that may be a century old, tottering bridges or cramped subterranean train tunnels that are inadequate for today's needs.
We clearly should worry, though. Although a catastrophe was avoided, this week's accident demonstrated how even a relatively trivial mishap can tie up traffic and play havoc with work routines for days.
In the past, Baltimore has been reminded of the fragility of its infrastructure when water mains occasionally burst, causing huge sinkholes. Expect more of that if the city doesn't get moving to replace aging, crumbling pipes.
This week's tunnel fire should be used as an occasion for a thorough review of Baltimore's weakest infrastructure links. Lake Roland Dam in Robert E. Lee Park, just over the northern city line in Baltimore County, should be subjected to particularly unforgiving scrutiny. Despite recent efforts to fortify it, the dam, built in 1862, is a cause for serious concern. If it were to collapse in a storm, it would send a wall of water roaring down the Jones Falls Valley, with 2,000 residents in its immediate path.
There is no evidence that the condition of the 1.7-mile Howard Street Tunnel had anything to do with this week's train wreck. Nevertheless, elected officials should redouble efforts to modernize the tunnel, which carries CSX trains underground from Mount Royal Station south to Camden Station.
It was constructed in the 1890s, and is the largest subterranean conduit of rail freight along the Atlantic Coast. This may sound impressive. But because the tunnel is incapable of handling double-stacked containers, it has become a huge impediment to the city's efforts to increase use of its port.
There has been talk for at least a decade about raising the tunnel to accommodate the larger, double-stacked cargo containers. But the project would cost at least $40 million and has not been on CSX's list of spending priorities.
Because of the safety concerns raised by this week's accident, Maryland Sens. Paul S. Sarbanes and Barbara A. Mikulski should seek federal aid to modernize the tunnel, a sturdy relic of railroad engineering built of some 30 million bricks. (Its original construction was so costly that it bankrupted the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.)
Ideally, the tunnel should also be widened to accommodate another track. Had a second track existed, firefighting this week might have been easier.
Two other Baltimore railroad tunnels also need to be upgraded. They are the mile-long Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Tunnel, which runs into Penn Station from the west, and the half-mile-long Union Tunnel, which runs from the station to the east.
These tunnels may be safe, as Amtrak inspectors keep insisting. But they are so antiquated that trains can traverse them at a maximum speed of only 25 mph.
Considering all the toxic chemicals the derailed train was carrying, Baltimore was lucky to experience only a big scare. Next time we may not be as fortunate, though.
That's why determined measures are needed to improve unsafe or antiquated infrastructure. It is sure to fail without warning, unless timely improvements are made.
